Off the wire
• China, U.S. to jointly fight cyber crime  • China-Poland photography exhibition kicks off in Warsaw  • China loses to favorite Spain in women's basketball Olympic qualification  • Tree planted by famous Chinese monk transplanted to ancient capital  • China to provide more opportunities for investors from home and abroad: Premier Li  • Spotlight: Two law experts in Britain question arbitral tribunal's jurisdiction over South China Sea dispute  • Roundup: Zimbabwe steps up ease of doing business reforms to attract more FDI  • Starting lineup of Austria for Euro 2016 Group F match against Hungary  • Starting lineup of Hungary for Euro 2016 Group F match against Austria  • Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, June 14  
You are here: 　 Home

JSE closes weaker on two consecutive days

Xinhua, June 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) dropped sharply in the early afternoon on Tuesday, taking direction from jittery global markets.

Investors sold stocks across a range of sectors, which dragged the all share index 2.13 percent lower to 51,396.90 points - its weakest level in about four weeks.

The blue chip top 40 Index was 2.23 percent lower, but gold had risen 0.33 percent to sell at 1,286.36 U.S. dollars an ounce at close of session.

The rand was trading at R15.34 to the U.S. dollar, R21.67 to the British pound and R17.17 to the euro, gaining some strength against the major currencies.

Financial stocks and miners took the heavier drop in a market that was roadly weaker, though a sharply weaker rand cushioned some of the big industrial stocks.

Global sentiment is fragile as markets await the outcome of the British vote on June 23 to decide the future of that country in the EU bloc.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates on Wednesday will also be closely watched, though the markets expect the world's most influential central bank to keep them on hold.

Among individual shares, Anglo American gave up 4.75 percent to 131 with Sasol dropping 2.63 percent to R406.17.

Kumba Iron Ore was off 4.80 percent to R81.56 and Anglo American Platinum shed 4.75 percent to R131.21

Standard Bank fell 2.99 percent to R116.94 and FirstRand dropped 3.25 percent to R43.15.

Pretoria Portland Cement lost 7.22 percent after 1,929 deals traded 5,705,824 shares, sending the share price down to R9.00. After 11,551,942 shares were bought and sold in 13,355 deals, MTN Group fell 5.21 percent to R136.92. Endit