Johannesburg - Stocks on the JSE faltered on Tuesday in line with their peers up north after a gauge of economic sentiment in Europe's biggest economy hit its lowest since December 2012, reflecting the impact of the Ukraine crisis.
However, bucking the trend in Johannesburg, shares in Merafe Resources jumped over 9% after the ferrochrome producer said first-half earnings and production had more than doubled.
Overall the market was down, with the benchmark Top-40 index slipping 0.19% to 46 288 while the wider All-Share index shed 0.16% to 51 443.
The market has hit successive record highs this year but has stumbled recently, with rising political tensions and conflict on a range of fronts diminishing the risk appetite of investors.
"There are so many bad headlines to keep track of between Gaza, Ukraine or wherever that it is just not good for risk appetite at the moment," said Christie Viljoen of NKC Independent Economists.
The affect of such crises on investor sentiment was underscored on Tuesday by a survey showing German analyst and investor morale had plunged in August to its lowest in more than 1-1/2 years.
Mannheim-based think tank ZEW's monthly survey of economic sentiment, published on Tuesday, fell for an eighth consecutive month to 8.6 in August, from 27.1 in July, hitting European shares.