South Africa's blue chip index officially closed down 1.08 percent on Friday, booking its biggest weekly decline since May 2010 as investors world-wide fled risky assets on worries about growth in the United States and sovereign debt in Europe.
The JSE Top-40 index of blue chips fell to 25,993.94, bringing this week's losses to 6.69 percent - the biggest decline since early May 2010. The broader All-share index surrendered 1.17 percent to 29,256.75. "There's a flight into the more safer assets like treasuries and we are not escaping it," said Lance Gordon, a trader at Consilium Capital.
"It's a general carnage, a lot of foreigners own shares in our markets and I think its emanating from the foreigners. When they decide to sell, they sell wholesale and we can't escape." Financial and mining sector stocks, especially platinum producers, have taken the worst beating.
Impala Platinum was the biggest percentage loser on the blue chip index, falling 4.27 percent to 157.95 rand and rival Anglo American Platinum shed 3.48 percent to 526.01 rand. Old Mutual surrendered nearly 5 percent to 12.50 rand after saying it may delay the planned initial public offering of its US fund management business next year because of the markets turmoil.
Investors would be watching US non-farm payroll numbers that will be released later Friday for direction, trader said. Forecasts are for a tepid 85,000 jobs added in the United States in July, but a weak number or even contraction would boost concern that the United States is heading into recession. "Depending on that, we could see some kind of bounce. If they are bad we could continue to see a sell off in world markets," said Michele Santagelo, a portfolio manager at Newstrading.