Money SA economy
The JSE was lower in midday trade on Monday, as heavyweight resource stocks came under pressure in the wake of a mining royalty tax slapped on miners in Australia.
By 12pm the JSE all share index was down 0.54%, with resources 1.09% lower, platinum miners losing 0.40%, and gold miners giving up 1.42%. Banks were 0.11% firmer, but financials slipped 0.12% while industrials, were 0.22% lower. Gold was quoted at $1,179.01/oz from $1,176.65/oz at the JSE's last close. Platinum was at $1,734.50/oz from $1,736/oz at the JSE's last close.
"We've seen some of our heavyweight resource stocks like BHP Billiton coming under pressure as a result of the Australian mining royalty tax. But we're also seeing very low volumes today with London being closed and quite a lot of other stock exchanges also closed today. So as a result, we're weak across the board. But US futures are up so it's difficult to say what will happen for the remainder of the session," a local equities trader said.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that Asian equity markets declined on Monday as Beijing's move to tighten monetary policy over the weekend dragged on Chinese banking and property stocks in Hong Kong, while Australian miners were hit hard by the government's plans for a new tax on the resources industry.
Investor sentiment was also weakened after Goldman Sachs Group shares fell sharply in the wake of downgrades by some analysts on Friday, triggering a sell-off on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, US stocks are expected to open higher Monday, rebounding a touch after the hefty losses on Friday. As it stands, the DJIA front month futures contract trades 13 points higher at 10,973 and the S&P 500 futures contract is 2.2 points higher at 1185.6.
On the JSE, Anglo slipped 116 cents to R316.29 while BHP Billiton fell R4.77 or 2.08% to R224.63 as commodity stocks listed in Australia were hit by news of the new mine tax. Sasol gave up R1.19 to trade at R299.81.
