Global inflation jitters hammer S.African bourse
Mon May 15, 2006 5:39 PM GMT
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A market-wide sell-off ignited by world-wide inflation jitters hammered South African stocks to their biggest one-day drop in two months on Monday, which saw platinum miner Angloplat fall 9 percent.
Traders said the Johannesburg bourse started its downward trend on Friday after U.S. stocks suffered their biggest one-day decline in nearly four months on Thursday amid fears that rampant oil and metals prices would stoke inflation.
U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday amid investor worries about rising interest rates before key inflation data this week.
"There's a risk aversion to emerging market assets -- bonds, equities, currencies and even resources have taken a hit," Warren Hammond, a trader at Andisa Securities said.
The top-40 index of blue-chip stocks gave up 3.7 percent to 19,001.76 points, while the all-share index also fell by the same margin of 3.7 percent to 20,974.14 points.
"Overseas markets are concerned about rising inflation on the back of the oil price, and our market picked up on that, and there are worries over higher interest rates," said Ferdi Heyneke, a portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities.
Heyneke said the market had not lost as much in a single day since March 7, this year.
South Africa's rand currency also took a beating, diving 3.2 percent to 6.50 per dollar.
Gold and platinum shares skidded to their biggest fall in 3-1/2 years, as metals prices got pounded on inflation fears.
Angloplat lost 8.89 percent to 615 rand, while rival Impala Platinum (Implats) sunk by 7.20 percent to 1,225 rand.
Gold Fields lost 8.68 percent to 146.06 rand and AngloGold Ashanti shed 6.38 percent to 322.05 rand.
The gold mining index -- which had surged 125 percent over the past 12 months at its peak on Friday -- fell 7.36 percent to 2,899.31 points.
The gold and platinum prices fell sharply as part of a wide financial market sell-off triggered by fears about the long-term outlook for the dollar and that high metals and oil prices would stoke inflation.
Analyst David Davis at Andisa Securities in Johannesburg said the gold market would likely see further losses in the short term, but would level off and resume the upward trend.
BHP Billiton and Anglo American declined by 2.86 and 3.91 percent to 132.60 and 273 rand respectively.
Barloworld shed 6.35 percent to 119.50 rand after its results underperformed those of its rivals.
A rise in subscriber numbers by MTN was overshadowed after it said its planned $5.53 billion buy of Dubai-based Investcom might affect earnings, sending the shares lower by 3.39 percent to 57 rand.
Liberty International and Old Mutual were the only blue chip stocks to close in the black, rising 0.74 and 0.66 percent to 128.44 and 21.51 rand respectively. Old Mutual was buoyed by strong growth in its first-quarter business.