The JSE remained fragile across the board at noon on Wednesday, as investors brought the Greek debt crisis to the fore and awaited a statement from the US Federal Reserve later in the day.
There were a couple of factors that helped drag the market lower and these included persistent concerns over Greece and speculation about what the Fed might say about quantitative easing, an equity strategist said.
By 12:01 local time, the JSE all-share index was down 0.60%, with resources dropping 0.67%, platinum miners falling 0.79% and gold miners shedding 0.83%. Elsewhere, financials eased 0.62%, banks lost 0.92% and industrials were 0.55% lower.
The rand was last bid at 6.78 to the dollar from 6.73 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at US$1,544.89 a troy ounce from US$1,546.25/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1,746.50/oz, from $1,745.70/oz previously.
The equity strategist said the dollar had strengthened, driving commodity prices lower. This kept resource stocks under pressure, he added.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks had pushed slightly lower on Wednesday, with investors still concerned about the potential obstacles to a solution to Greece's sovereign debt problem.
After winning Tuesday's vote, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou must persuade parliament to approve a five-year, EUR28 billion package of tax increases and spending cuts to win a new bailout and avoid a possible fresh global economic crisis.
London's FTSE 100 index lost 0.47%.
Also prompting caution is the US Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision, due at 16:30 GMT, with most expecting the central bank to keep rates on hold.
On the JSE, Anglo American (AGL) lost 1.32 rand to 316.68 rand, BHP Billiton (BIL) fell 2.07 rand to 250.83 rand and Sasol (SOL) shed 1.35 rand to 353.65 rand.
Gold miner Gold Fields (GFI) eased 1.51 rand or 1.53% to 96.91 rand, but DRDGold (DRD) gained nine cents or 2.94% to 3.15 rand.
Platinum producer Angloplat (AMS) dropped 14.68 rand or 2.30% to 624.32 rand, while Eastern Platinum (EPS) surged 20 cents or 3.33% to 6.20 rand.
Diversified miner African Rainbow (ARI) gave up 3.40 rand or 1.80% to 186.00 rand.
In the industrial sector, Bidvest (BVT) shed 2.28 rand or 1.55% to 145.02 rand and SABMiller plc (SAB) slid 2.24 rand to 229.25 rand.
The global brewing giant announced on Tuesday it had made a takeover bid for Australian brewer Foster's to acquire all of Foster's shares for AU$4.90 per share in cash. But Foster's rejected the offer. Yesterday, SABMiller slumped 3.43%.
Remgro (REM) slashed 2.29 rand or 2.07% to 108.30 rand. The Rupert investment holding company on Tuesday reported that its headline earnings per share in the 12 months to March had lifted 17.6%, from 690.1 cents to 811.6 cents.
Headline earnings increased by 24.1% from 3.355 billion rand to 4.164 billion rand, while total earnings increased by 217.5% to 9.715 billion rand from 3.060 billion rand, mainly as a result of the earnings growth of the underlying investments, as well as the capital gains realised on the FirstRand/RMBH restructuring transactions. FirstRand and RMBH have both restructured in the past year to make clearer distinctions between their insurance and banking interests.
Banking group Standard Bank (SBK) axed 1.25 rand or 1.28% to 96.55 rand, and ABIL (ABL) was down 86 cents or 2.49% to 33.65 rand.
Retailer Mr Price (MPC) lifted 67 cents or 1.05% to 64.32 rand.
Rainbow (RBW) climbed 50 cents or 3.13% to 16.50 rand.
Precious metals producer Pan African Resources plc (PAN) added one cent to 1.17 rand. The company has reported a significant increase in the mineral resource for its Manica gold project in Mozambique.
This followed the significant increase in the mineral resource and reserve at Barberton Mines announced at the end of May, it said. Pan African CEO Jan Nelson said the Manica project represented a deposit of three million ounces, which was significant as there were not many gold deposits in Africa of similar size or larger with outcrops on the surface. - I-Net Bridge