Picture: MICHAEL ETTERSHANK
Picture: MICHAEL ETTERSHANK

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THE JSE closed lower on Wednesday due to broad-based selling as investors took profit off the table after recent solid market runs.

At 5pm the all share closed 1.54% lower at 52,569.60 points and the blue-chip top 40 index had declined 1.49%.

All the main indices closed in negative terrain, with platinum and gold counters leading the declines, shedding 8.60% and 4.5% respectively, amid lower commodity prices.

Sasfin Securities portfolio manager Joe Klopper said the JSE had had a good run in the last couple of weeks and some profit-taking was taking place. He said that the market had gone a bit risk-off after the recent bombings on Tuesday in Brussels.

Gold counters were down substantially after having had an "exceptional" run, with the gold price struggling to get past the $1,250 per ounce level, he said.

At 5.04pm the gold price was $1,218.86 a fine ounce, down more than 2% on the day.

"Gold miner Harmony was trading at R8 a share in December last year and is now trading at R57. This has been a substantial move and investors are taking some profit off the table and traders are also closing their positions ahead of the Easter weekend," Mr Klopper said.

"Our market is down today, but it is not like everything is falling to pieces. I am still very happy to be in the market as these are small moves and expected. Some resource companies have had very good runs and it is only fair to see some profit-taking. This is not a market crash," Mr Klopper said.

Across the Atlantic, a rally in US stocks showed further signs of stalling on Wednesday as the dollar gained, while European markets recovered during the day in the wake of the Brussels bombings, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

US stocks opened lower with the Dow Jones industrial average down 0.22% at 17,543 points in morning trade.

European shares were mostly higher in intraday trade, erasing Tuesday’s losses. The German Dax was up 0.38%, while the Paris CAC 40 had dipped 0.28% in late trade.

With a light economic and corporate calendar, few fresh catalysts were expected to steer market direction in this holiday-shortened week, the newswire said.

Among individual shares on the JSE, Anglo American shed 6.66% to R111.71 and chemical company Sasol lost 4.73% to R454.68 as the price of Brent crude gave back 2.04% on the day to $40.77 a barrel.

Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti gave up 4.93% to R201.36 and Sibanye fell 6.27% to R54.56.

Platinum counter Impala slumped 11.37% to R42.97 and Lonmin slid 11.16% to R29.07.

"Steinhoff has done very well recently. Anheuser-Busch InBev was down quite a bit, but looked like it would reach the R2,000 a share level in the next week or two," Mr Klopper said.

"Kumba is not having a good day again, The share closed 9.26% lower at R77. The counter has previously dropped to R25 and then went up to R120 and is now back around R75 — pretty much a dead-cat bounce," Mr Klopper said.