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Johannesburg - The JSE came off lightly compared to other world markets on Thursday morning. The local bourse was down‚ but nowhere near as badly as the Japanese Nikkei‚ which tumbled more than 7%.
The Nikkei shed value after US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested on Wednesday the Fed could scale back its bond purchases in the coming months if the US economy begins to “see further signs of traction”.
The markets interpreted his tone as being fairly hawkish‚ which led to the drop in eastern markets.
At 9:22‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index shed 1.16% at 41 352.10 points and the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index was down 1.20%.
The platinum and resources indices were the biggest losers‚ giving back 2.19% and 2.03% respectively‚ after solid gains on Wednesday on bargain hunting.
Only gold miners were trading in the black‚ with the gold index up 1%‚ as gold is seen as a safe-haven investment in turbulent times.
The Nikkei Stock Average plunged 7.32% and Honk Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 2.55% shortly before its close.
The Japanese stock market's worst sell-off of the year was fuelled in part by the moves in the Japanese government bond market‚ where yields briefly rose to 1% for the first time in 14 months‚ due in part to US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben Bernanke's earlier comments‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Bernanke’s comments added to confusion over the direction of Japanese government bonds‚ as the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday it would maintain its bond-buying programme but would not take additional action to lower yields.
Weak trade data from China on Thursday also contributed to the selloff in Japan. Preliminary numbers of HSBC'S China manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for May fell to a seven-month low of 49.6.
Top European stock markets were all trading lower‚ with London’s FTSE 100 1.78% weaker and Paris’s CAC 40 shedding 2.13% in early trade.
Among individual shares on the JSE Anglo American (AGL) shed 3.23% to R231.68‚ rival BHP Billiton (BIL) was down 2.10% at R283.13 and oil giant Sasol (SOL) dipped 1.36% to R424.17.
Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) slid 2.96% to R523.06 and ArcelorMittal (ACL) shed 3.93% to R24.45.
Gold counter Harmony (HAR) jumped 2.90% to R36.53 and Sibanye (SGL) lifted 1.63% to R6.84.
Among platinums‚ Northam (NHM) fell 3.73% to R31‚ Lonmin (LON) retreated 2.62% to R38.28 and Aquarius (AQP) plummeted 5.86% to R5.78.
