Johannesburg - The JSE's brief recovery in resource shares came to an abrupt halt on Monday morning, when stocks dropped over a wide spectrum. Some of the biggest names in the sector yet again set new 52-week lows.
With commodity prices continually under pressure because of the strong dollar, the slightly stronger rand after South Africa recorded a better-than-expected trade surplus did not help either.
Some of the biggest names on the resources board - including Anglo American [JSE:AGL], Glencore [JSE:GLN], Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP], Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] and Harmony [JSE:HAR] - traded at new 52-week lows; the losses these shares have suffered over the last month are quite staggering.
By midday the Resources index was another 1.93% lower while the Gold index was 1.48% weaker, with indications that share prices could go still lower in the afternoon.
The Financial index was however 0.25% stronger and the Industrial index lost only 0.26%, which limited the losses of the major indices. By midday on Monday the All-share index was only 0.32% lower at 51 888 points, while the Top 40 index was 0.39% softer at 46 377 points.
One of the big losers was again Anglo American [JSE:AGL], once the pride of the JSE, which traded 3.94% lower at R153.57, which meant the share price is only 7c higher than the 52-week low of R153.50. Anglo has recovered over the past few days and was 1.7% higher over the past seven days, but the share gave up all gains on Monday morning.
Another conglomerate, Glencore, also set a low of R40.27, 2.14% lower than Friday's closing price. The share dropped 21.8% over the past month and is now 36.79% weaker than a year ago.
BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] is not at a low but traded 0.86% softer at R230.21. The share recently did much better than its competitors as it is only 9.87% lower over the past month. Over a year it has however lost 35.91%.
Lonmin's [JSE:LON] losses continued on Monday morning and the share slipped 2.16% to a new low of R9.95. Over the past week the share has lost a staggering 30.82% and over the past month 59.3%.
Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] was 0.57% softer at a new low of R45.25, 27.1% lower than a month ago and 57.8% softer than a year ago.
In the gold sector Gold Fields reached a new 52-week low of R34.26 on Monday morning, beating the previous low of R34.97. Harmony, which has lost 26.38% over the past month, dropped 1.50% to a new low of R11.82.
Investors in hospital group Mediclinic [JSE:MDC] decided to take profits on Monday morning after the share gained almost 10% over the past month on news that the group plans to acquire 70% of the British hospital group Spire. This means Mediclinic will be earning 70% of its income abroad. The share price dropped a massive 5.32% to R106.67.
In the Industrial index the important rand hedge, British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI], firmed further on Monday morning although only marginally. The stock gained 0.11% to yet another record of R749.52.