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Johannesburg - The JSE continued on its downward trajectory on Friday afternoon due to a selloff in world markets after news that the International Monetary Fund has downgraded it US economic growth forecast from 2% to 1.7% for this year.
“There is a big selloff in world markets on the back of the IMF downgrade. This selloff has hit the commodity space hardest with the gold price and gold shares dropping fast. A worse than expected retail sales print out of the US also pushed markets lower‚” said Hennie Fourie‚ stockbroker at PSG Konsult.
At 17:00 local time gold was 3.07% weaker at $1 499.66/oz from $1 561.59/oz in late trade on Thursday.
At the same time platinum dropped to $1‚493/oz from $1‚529/oz on Thursday.
Further negative sentiment crept into world markets earlier on Friday on concerns that Cyprus may need more bailout money.
At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed down 1.23% at 38 630.54 points. All the main indices were in the red‚ with the gold index hardest hit‚ down 4.47%‚ followed by platinums losing 3.18% and resources down 2.40%.
The blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gave back 1.37%.
On the global front‚ major European share markets were mostly lower‚ with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.58% at 4.46pm local time‚ while across the Atlantic the Dow Jones industrial average was 0.34% softer at the same time.
US stocks were trading lower on Friday as weak retail sales data prompted a pullback from the recent string of gains‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
US retail sales for March fell 0.4%‚ the biggest monthly decline in nine months‚ while economists had been expecting a 0.1% decline.
In addition‚ the producer price index declined 0.6% in March‚ more than the 0.4% decline expected.
In the US banking space‚ JPMorgan Chase reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analyst expectations and Wells Fargo also reported better than expected earnings.
On the JSE Harmony (HAR) fell 8.72% to R50.05‚ Gold Fields (GFI) shed 4.92% to close at R61.63‚ Sibanye (SGL) declined 4.88% to R11.90 and AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) relinquished 2.98% to R188.69.
Impala Platinum (IMP) gave up 3.30% to R123‚ Lonmin (LON) shed 4.47% to R38.04 and Aquarius (AQP) was down 4.24% to R6.32.
Rand-hedge luxury goods maker Richemont (CFR) closed 2.08% softer at R69.15 and Sasol (SOL) gave back 3.04% to R388.
Of the banks Absa (ASA) was hardest hit down 2.55% to R153.
In major retailers‚ Massmart (MSM) fared worst‚ giving back 2.14% to R196.50.
Cement producer PPC (PPC) bucked the general market trend‚ adding 1.61% to R34.80.
“There is a big selloff in world markets on the back of the IMF downgrade. This selloff has hit the commodity space hardest with the gold price and gold shares dropping fast. A worse than expected retail sales print out of the US also pushed markets lower‚” said Hennie Fourie‚ stockbroker at PSG Konsult.
At 17:00 local time gold was 3.07% weaker at $1 499.66/oz from $1 561.59/oz in late trade on Thursday.
At the same time platinum dropped to $1‚493/oz from $1‚529/oz on Thursday.
Further negative sentiment crept into world markets earlier on Friday on concerns that Cyprus may need more bailout money.
At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed down 1.23% at 38 630.54 points. All the main indices were in the red‚ with the gold index hardest hit‚ down 4.47%‚ followed by platinums losing 3.18% and resources down 2.40%.
The blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gave back 1.37%.
On the global front‚ major European share markets were mostly lower‚ with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.58% at 4.46pm local time‚ while across the Atlantic the Dow Jones industrial average was 0.34% softer at the same time.
US stocks were trading lower on Friday as weak retail sales data prompted a pullback from the recent string of gains‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
US retail sales for March fell 0.4%‚ the biggest monthly decline in nine months‚ while economists had been expecting a 0.1% decline.
In addition‚ the producer price index declined 0.6% in March‚ more than the 0.4% decline expected.
In the US banking space‚ JPMorgan Chase reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analyst expectations and Wells Fargo also reported better than expected earnings.
On the JSE Harmony (HAR) fell 8.72% to R50.05‚ Gold Fields (GFI) shed 4.92% to close at R61.63‚ Sibanye (SGL) declined 4.88% to R11.90 and AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) relinquished 2.98% to R188.69.
Impala Platinum (IMP) gave up 3.30% to R123‚ Lonmin (LON) shed 4.47% to R38.04 and Aquarius (AQP) was down 4.24% to R6.32.
Rand-hedge luxury goods maker Richemont (CFR) closed 2.08% softer at R69.15 and Sasol (SOL) gave back 3.04% to R388.
Of the banks Absa (ASA) was hardest hit down 2.55% to R153.
In major retailers‚ Massmart (MSM) fared worst‚ giving back 2.14% to R196.50.
Cement producer PPC (PPC) bucked the general market trend‚ adding 1.61% to R34.80.
