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Johannesburg - The JSE was in limbo on Tuesday morning, slowly drifting lower as financial markets all over the world wait for news on an emergency eurozone summit on the Greek crisis.
By midday on Tuesday the All-share index was 0.57% lower at 51 086 points and the Top 40 index traded 0.64% softer at 45 441 points, with the indices moving mostly sideways at that stage. The losses were however enough to push the Top 40 index below the important resistance level of 45 800 points.
The Industrial index was then 0.61% lower, the Financial index traded 0.72% softer and the resources sector was 0.59% down. On Monday markets worldwide, including the JSE, opened sharply lower in response to the No vote in the Greek referendum on austerity measures required by its creditors, but most of them stabilised and recovered some of those losses.
Global markets stabilised further on Tuesday morning, with the exception of the Chinese market which dropped sharply again despite measures by the Chinese authorities which brought some stability on Monday.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to present new proposals to an emergency eurozone summit on Tuesday, under pressure from European leaders to come up with credible ideas as his country's banks face potential meltdown.
With Greek lenders down to their last few days of cash and the European Central Bank tightening the noose on their funding, Tsipras must persuade the bloc's other 18 leaders to open negotiations fast on a new loan to rescue Greece.
The leaders of Germany and France, the currency area's two main powers, said after conferring on Monday that the door was still open to a deal to save Greece from plunging into economic turmoil and ditching the euro. This is the main reason why markets are not much lower than expected.
Among the big industrial shares Sasol [JSE:SOL] fell 2.11% to trade at R417.99 due to the weaker oil price. Brent traded at $57.27, the lowest level in months, on fears that the Greek crisis would lead to economic instability worldwide. Dealers are also afraid that Iran will add to world production, if a nuclear deal with the US leads to sanctions being lifted. Sasol’s share price has dropped 4.5% over the past seven days
Richemont [JSE:CFR] lost another 1.10% to R98.04, which means that the share is now 3.83% lower than seven days ago and 8.47% softer than 30 days ago.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] stabilised after two days of losses and at midday was 0.06% higher at R1 822.08. The share dropped sharply in line with similar losses by Tencent, the Chinese internet giant listed in Hong Kong of which Naspers own 34%. Tencent was another 1.23% lower on Tuesday morning as Hong Kong lost more than 1.3%, in line with the sharp drop on the Chinese market.
Among the financial shares Capitec [JSE:CPF] was 4.13% lower at R441.97. The losses were probably the result of proposals by government to limit interest rates on unsecured lending. Capitec is now 14.12% lower over the past 30 days, of which 6.28% was lost over the past seven days.
FirstRand [JSE:FSR] lost 1.18% tot R51.78.
In the resources sector BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] was 1.04% lower at R234.74, which means that the share is now 9.87% lower over the past 30 days and 5.65% over the past seven days. Anglo American [JSE:AGL] lost another 0.70% to yet another 52-week low of R170.02. After losing 7.99% over the past seven days, the stock is now 13.53% softer over the past 30 days.
Woolworths [JSE:WHL] was one of the busiest shares on the market on Tuesday morning and lost 1.25% to R96.55.
