The JSE had lost its early morning gains by midday on Tuesday as investors abandoned resource and mining stocks in the wake of weak Chinese trade data.
China’s exports and imports fell in September as global demand remained weak‚ signalling that the world’s second-largest economy continues to struggle into the end of the year.
China’s exports fell 1.1% in September from a year earlier in yuan terms‚ after a drop of 6.1% in August. Imports fell 17.7% in yuan terms compared with a 14.3% decrease in August.
While much of the fall in imports can be attributed to falling commodity prices‚ "a lot of people would argue that the fall in imports is due to weak Chinese demand‚" said Capital Economics China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard.
At 12pm‚ the all share was flat‚ adding 52.20 points to 52‚809.80. The blue-chip top 40 index had risen 0.32%.
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Major indices on the bourse were lower with the exception of the industrial index. The platinum index had declined by 3.17%‚ the gold index by 3.16% and the resource index by 2%. The industrial index had lifted 0.94%.
At midday‚ European stocks were down.
The FTSE 100 was 0.84% lower‚ the CAC 40 had decreased by 1.63% and the DAX 30 had slipped 1.17%.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Glencore fell 5.96% to R23.51.
ArcelorMittal was 13.1% lower at R11.21.
SABMiller surged 10.5% to R808.85.
Gold Fields was down 4.66% to R38.90.
In platinum shares‚ Anglo American Platinum declined 3.17% to R265.56‚ Impala Platinum fell 3.46% to R46.34 and Lonmin lowered 5.66% to R6.84.
Retailer Pick n Pay added 3.03% to R63.
Telkom fell 4.52% to R70.56.
Sappi was down 2.72% to R48.26.
- BDlive
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