Money SA economy
The JSE opened weaker across the board on Wednesday after global diversified mining giant BHP Billiton released financial results that were slightly below the market consensus forecast.
A revival of concerns over the global economic recovery, after a record drop in US existing home sales on Tuesday, also soured the mood, said Kevin Algeo, portfolio manager at Imara SP Reid.
By 9.19am local time the JSE all share index had fallen 0.61%, with resources 0.96% weaker, platinum miners declining 0.37% and gold miners down 1.25%. Banks shed 0.21%, financials edged down 0.20%, and industrials lost 0.47%. Gold was quoted at $1 230.72/oz from $1 232.47/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 515.00/oz from $1 516.50/oz before.
Algeo said the local market fell as BHP Billiton released its financial results that just missed consensus forecasts and were slightly disappointing. "BHP Billiton is the story of the day," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that BHP Billiton's results were a slight miss to consensus, says Liberum Capital. Net profit attributable to shareholders was $12.7 billion compared to consensus of $12.9 billion and Liberum's expectation of $13.8 billion, the bank says.
Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Wednesday as worries over the pace of the global economic recovery continued to hurt sentiment, while Tokyo stocks remained under pressure from a still-strong yen, Dow Jones newswires reported.
Wall Street dropped on Tuesday as a result of more soft US economic data and investors fleeing risky assets after a spate of negative headlines, leading to selling in equities and the euro. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%.
European stocks started relatively weaker and in early trade in London, the FTSE100 was 0.27% lower.
On the JSE, Anglo American shed R3.00 or 1.13% to R262.50, and Sasol lost R3.93 to R280.70.
