The JSE lost ground on Thursday at midday ahead of expected renewed stimulus measures set to be announced by the European Central Bank (ECB) and hawkish comments by US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen.
"She said that the Federal open market committee was reasonably confident that inflation would return to 2% over time and that the global growth risks that postponed a rate move in September had subsided‚" Barclays Research said.
At 11.52am‚ the JSE was down 1.16% at 50‚566.10 points. The blue-chip top 40 index had lost 1.12%.
Leading indices were weaker. Platinums led the losses‚ falling 5.99%. The resources and gold indices were down 3.38% and 2.77%‚ respectively. Banks lost 1.34%.
In Asia‚ the Shanghai Composite index ended the session 1.35% higher. The Hang Seng index closed 0.28% lower.
An analyst at Nedbank Capital said resources continued to be hit hardest after US economic data released earlier supported an interest rate increase in December‚ further raising concerns about global growth.
"Gold remains under pressure due to the surge in the dollar‚" he said.
"The gold price will likely remain volatile ahead of the Fed policy meeting later this month."
In company-specific news‚ PSG will look to raise R1.5bn via an accelerated bookbuild to fund investment opportunities going forward. Increased demand may see the book grow to R2.5bn.
PSG was 0.36% softer at R252.58.
Coming out in the morning‚ MTN has managed to reduce its fine in Nigeria to $3.4bn with the amount payable by December 31.
MTN lost 2.41% to R143.23.
Among the global mining houses Glencore shed 1.93% to R19.80.
Sasol dropped 1.99% to R392.02.
Among platinums Anglo American Platinum was 4.56% lower at R181.33.
Standard Bank was 1.18% down at R124.17.
Industrial conglomerate Remgro was 1.61% lower at R251.25.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.