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Johannesburg - The JSE slipped at the opening on Thursday, tracking the weaker trend on global stock markets amid continued worries about the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, with Italy the main focus of investor attention.
By 09:17 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.69% to 31 797.02 points, with resources 1.02% weaker, the gold index down 1.24% and platinum stocks 0.75% lower.
Banks were down 0.79%, financials shed 0.61%, and industrials dipped 0.45%.
The rand was trading at R8.09 to the dollar, from R8.00 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold traded at $1 754.43 a troy ounce from $1 783.99/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 612.20/oz, from $1 637.50/oz previously.
"The worst-case scenario for investors is the possibility of recession moving out of Europe to the world. That is certainly going to hit the resources-based economies such as ours," said Ian Cruickshanks, market watcher at Nedbank Capital.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that a global rout for stock markets extended to Asia on Thursday, as Italy's record high borrowing costs deepened Europe's debt crisis, pummelling regional financial stocks and sending the Tokyo market skidding to multi-week lows and Hong Kong down over 4%.
Investors were rattled by the spike in 10-year Italian bond yields to above the financially-charged barrier of 7%, triggering the biggest one-day loss for US stocks since mid-September on Wednesday. The yield on Italian debt is currently at levels experienced in Ireland, Portugal and Greece before their bailouts.
The simultaneous reversals of fortune in Greece and Italy reignited investor fears of a repeat of the 2008 global financial crisis.
In Europe, investors were poised to sell off stocks again on Thursday, leaving European markets well lower to start as eurozone worries grip sentiment.
Cantor Index is calling the FTSE down 86 points to 5 374, the DAX off 104 points to 5 725.
Some analysts said the crisis could be at the tipping point, with Italy too big to bail out given its economy is the third-largest in the eurozone, accounting for 20% of the bloc's output.
