Johannesburg - The JSE slid to its lowest level in four days
at the start of trading on Monday in line with global stocks‚ amid festering
eurozone concerns.
“Spain is back in focus‚ with its benchmark yields rising
after the Valencia region asked for financial help on Friday. This has brought
equity markets sharply down across Asia and Europe and we are following the
trend‚” said Ryan Wibberley‚ equity dealer at Investec Asset Management.
The action has fuelled investor fears that the indebted
eurozone country could be the next after Ireland‚ Portugal and Greece to ask
for a financial bailout.
At 9:44‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 1.19% to
33‚ 818.70‚ while big movers in the early session were Anglo American
[JSE:AGL]‚ which lost R7.11‚ to R255.89 and BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] gave up
R5.56‚ to R230.02.
Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS] gave up R8.50‚ to R415 after the
world's biggest producer of the metal reported a 78% decline in diluted
headline earnings per share to 272 cents for the six months ended June 2012
from 1‚232 cents a year ago. The drop was primarily due to lower sales volumes
and weaker average realised rhodium and nickel prices.
Aquarius Platinum [JSE:AQP] was off 19 cents‚ or 3.45%‚ to
R5.31 after the platinum producer reported attributable production of 98‚143
ounces for the quarter ended June 2012 from 97‚802 ounces in the previous
quarter.
Anglo Ashanti [JSE:ANG] gained R4.25‚ to R261.50 after the
gold producer posted a 9% rise in gold production in the second quarter of
2012‚ to 1.073 million ounces‚ compared with the first quarter.
Investec [JSE:INL] was down R1.80‚ to R48.80 after going
ex-dividend.