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The JSE tumbled on Thursday as it resumed its downward trend following a minor relief bounce caused by the budget speech.
The global stock rout deepened on Thursday as concerns over the spread of the Coronavirus remained prevalent due to a high number of cases being reported outside of China.
In Asia, the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite Index managed to eke out gains of 0.31% and 0.29% respectively, however the Nikkei tumbled 2.13%.
In Europe the losses deepened as all the major bourses fell by an average of at least 3%. US stocks also opened lower on the day with the 10-year Treasury yield falling to multi-year lows.
On the local bourse, Nampak [JSE:NPK] closed as one of the biggest losers after it plummeted 13.23% to close at R4.00, while Steinhoff International Holdings [JSE:SNH] was further dragged down by the release of a 3-months trading update which saw the stock fall 13.44% to close at R1.61.
Anheuser-Busch InBev [JSE:ANH] reported its 4th quarter results which were slightly weaker than expected. This saw the share fall 7.36% to close at R940.90. Most of the rand sensitives which rallied in the previous session, relinquished most of the gains in Thursday's session. Woolworths [JSE:WHL] fell 5.77% to close at R37.37, the Spar Group [JSE:SPP] lost 6.38% to close at R163.36, while Massmart [JSE:MSM] tumbled 5.26% to close at R45.00 following the release of its full-year results.
Losses were also recorded for Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] which lost 6.38% to close at R298.31, as well as Sasol [JSE:SOL] which slipped to a fresh 10-year low of R184.97 before closing at R185.45 after losing 4.93% on the day.
Gains were relatively modest on the day. Mondi [JSE:MNP] was buoyed by the release of a robust set of full-year results which saw the stock gain 1.98% to close at R320.22. British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] was lifted by the preliminary announcement of its full-year results which resulted in the share gaining 2.24% to close at R634.30.
Gold miners advanced on the back of the rise in the yellow metal price. Gains were recorded for DRD Gold [JSE:DRD] which advanced 5.5% to close at R11.50, AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] which added 0.89% to close at R324.68, as well as Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] which closed at R111.10 after gaining 0.6%.
The JSE All-share index fell 2.91% while the blue-chip JSE Top-40 index lost 2.96%. All the major indices fell on the day led by the financials index which lost 4.5%. The industrials and resources indices fell 2.47% & 2.6% respectively.
Brent crude was not spared on the day as it was trading 3.75% lower at $50.83/barrel just after the JSE close.
At 17:00 CAT, gold was 0.75% firmer at $1 651.89/Oz, palladium was down 0.48% at $2 776.03/Oz, and platinum was 0.13% softer at $910.11/Oz.
