Banks and resources led South African stocks lower on Wednesday due to a cautious earnings outlook at Standard Bank, profit-taking and the threat of high oil prices hurting profits.
The blue chip top-40 index dropped 1.36 percent to 14,081.84 points, while the all-share index fell 1.28 percent to 15,515.28 points, after touching 15,479, recording its biggest one-day fall since the July 7 London bombings.
“The whole market is seeing profit-taking,” Ryan Wibberley, a trader at Investec Securities said.
“The profit-taking is slightly overdue and is healthy for the market; it can’t go up in a straight line.”
Wibberley said marginally weaker metal prices also helped weaken resource stocks, and that investors would continue taking money off the table and resume buying on fresh fundamentals.
South African stocks have notched up a series of record highs over the last couple of weeks.
More: za.today.reuters.com
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MADRID (AFX) - Share prices were lower in thin late morning trade, tracking the weaker trend across Europe, led by Repsol YPF amid easing oil prices, while SCH was on offer on RBoS placement news, dealers said.
At 11.16 am, the IBEX-35 index was down 44.0 points at 10,050.1, after trading in a range of 10,029-10,107 on turnover of 1.849 bln eur, with put-throughs accounting for about 74 pct.
The IBEX-NM slipped 2.5 points to 2,626.7.
Equities opened flat, pushing higher in early deals before moving into the red along with the rest of Europe amid a lack of fresh
Oil prices may have fallen during the week from their recent record peaks, but they have remained comfortably above the $60 a barrel level – a place where Goldman Sachs said this week that it expects oil prices to remain for rest of the decade.
The raising of the long-term oil price target by Goldman to $60 from $45 was followed on Friday by Merrill Lynch and by JPMorgan. Each increased its long-term target as the oil supply chain from the wellhead to the petrol pump remain very tight and vulnerable to oil supply shocks.
That was evident this week
Gold, platinum lift S.Africa stocks, Highveld shines
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Gold Fields and Anglo Platinum shares lifted South African blue chip stocks on Wednesday thanks to higher metal prices, while Highveld powered the midcaps on Mittal SA take-over talk.
Platinum group metals surged to new highs on Wednesday, with platinum hitting a 25-1/2-year peak on active fund buying and sister metal palladium rising to its highest for 13 months.
The spot price of gold was also higher.
Gold Fields ended 2.81 percent higher at 91.50 rand, while Angloplat was 2.78 percent firmer at 444 rand.
"The gold and platinum spot prices were both up, and
Golds stocks, Sappi lift S.Africa bourse
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Gold shares lifted South the African bourse on Thursday as a weaker rand and stronger dollar prices for the metal lifted sentiment, while glossy paper producer Sappi starred after better-than-expected results.
World number four bullion producer Gold Fields rose 6.99 percent to 97.90 rand, rival and world number six Harmony raced 6 percent to 76 rand while world number two Anglogold Ashanti added 4.53 percent to 277.95 rand.
The gold index rose 5.67 percent.
Gold prices were up in Europe in spite of the stronger dollar as investors remained wary of the region' economic growth
MTN leads S.Africa bourse to new high on acquisition
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Mobile operator MTN led South African stocks to a new peak on Friday after announcing an acquisition of a stake in Botswana's Mascom while petrochemicals group Sasol tumbled on weaker oil prices.
MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator by sales, surged 4.82 percent to 57.65 rand after announcing on Thursday that it had acquired a 44 percent in Botswana's top operator. But pension fund DECI, which owns 60 percent of Mascom, said the deal was not yet final as it was still subject to a court arbitration.
The Top-40 index of blue
