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Johannesburg - Commodity shares on the JSE were dealt another body blow on Friday morning with the news that China is set to place tariffs on a range of imported raw materials as its domestic growth continues to cool.
This increased fears that global commodity prices, already on historic lows, will slump further.
China is the world’s top commodities buyer and a key export destination for South Africa.
The result was that the Resources index on the JSE was already 2.3% lower by midday on Friday and the Gold index lost another 2.55%.
The desperately low prices of precious metals like gold and platinum did not help either.
The Industrial index continued its run on Friday morning due to a huge jump in the price of Naspers [JSE:NPN], but it was not enough to pull the major indices higher.
By midday the All-share lost 0.30% to 50 439 and the Top 40 index traded 0.38% weaker at 44 951.
The news from China completely reversed the firmer move in the resources sector on Thursday, after September mining output surprised the market with a 5.3% expansion.
The news from China also pushed the rand lower, but the weaker rand did not do anything to support resources shares.
The prices of iron ore producers were again severely hit and Assore [JSE:ASR], which is already 48.3% down for the year and 49.2% for the last six months, lost another 3.86% on Friday morning to R199.03.
Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO], the iron ore producer in the Anglo American [JSE:AGL] stable, traded 2.01% lower at R260.17 and is now 35.2% lower for the year.
Investors also sold shares in Anglo American which lost 2.26% to R234.47. BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL], which has a big exposure to China, was 1.96% softer at R287.43.
Platinum producers are also under pressure with the platinum price at a five-year low. The price dropped to below $1 200 per ounce on Friday morning and at midday was trading at $1 193/oz.
However, Anglo American Platinum [LSE:AMS], which dropped 3.9% on Thursday afternoon, stabilised on Friday morning and at midday was only 0.29% weaker at R367.44.
Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] traded 1.85% softer at R79.53 and Lonmin [JSE:LON] lost another 3.91% to R30.95. Lonmin is now 41.9% softer for the last 12 months.
Gold shares took another beating on Friday morning with the volatile AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Harmony [JSE:HAR] both more than 3% down and close to the 52-week lows set earlier this week.
AngloGold was 3.71% softer at R95.88 and Harmony lost 3.87% to R17.40 after the gold price slipped 0.74% to $1 153.99. Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] was not hit so severely and lost only 0.82% to R41.14.
By midday the Industrial index was 0.47% stronger after Naspers reached another all-time high of R1 542.59, 7.91% higher than the previous day.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers
This increased fears that global commodity prices, already on historic lows, will slump further.
China is the world’s top commodities buyer and a key export destination for South Africa.
The result was that the Resources index on the JSE was already 2.3% lower by midday on Friday and the Gold index lost another 2.55%.
The desperately low prices of precious metals like gold and platinum did not help either.
The Industrial index continued its run on Friday morning due to a huge jump in the price of Naspers [JSE:NPN], but it was not enough to pull the major indices higher.
By midday the All-share lost 0.30% to 50 439 and the Top 40 index traded 0.38% weaker at 44 951.
The news from China completely reversed the firmer move in the resources sector on Thursday, after September mining output surprised the market with a 5.3% expansion.
The news from China also pushed the rand lower, but the weaker rand did not do anything to support resources shares.
The prices of iron ore producers were again severely hit and Assore [JSE:ASR], which is already 48.3% down for the year and 49.2% for the last six months, lost another 3.86% on Friday morning to R199.03.
Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO], the iron ore producer in the Anglo American [JSE:AGL] stable, traded 2.01% lower at R260.17 and is now 35.2% lower for the year.
Investors also sold shares in Anglo American which lost 2.26% to R234.47. BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL], which has a big exposure to China, was 1.96% softer at R287.43.
Platinum producers are also under pressure with the platinum price at a five-year low. The price dropped to below $1 200 per ounce on Friday morning and at midday was trading at $1 193/oz.
However, Anglo American Platinum [LSE:AMS], which dropped 3.9% on Thursday afternoon, stabilised on Friday morning and at midday was only 0.29% weaker at R367.44.
Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] traded 1.85% softer at R79.53 and Lonmin [JSE:LON] lost another 3.91% to R30.95. Lonmin is now 41.9% softer for the last 12 months.
Gold shares took another beating on Friday morning with the volatile AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Harmony [JSE:HAR] both more than 3% down and close to the 52-week lows set earlier this week.
AngloGold was 3.71% softer at R95.88 and Harmony lost 3.87% to R17.40 after the gold price slipped 0.74% to $1 153.99. Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] was not hit so severely and lost only 0.82% to R41.14.
By midday the Industrial index was 0.47% stronger after Naspers reached another all-time high of R1 542.59, 7.91% higher than the previous day.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers
