The JSE closed weaker on Tuesday as concerns about Italy induced a sell-off in global equities.

Italy’s short-dated and long-dated Treasury bond yields rose as investors scurried to safety. As a result the Euro weakened to a new 10-month low of $1.1510/£ as the US dollar rose. There are fears that if fresh elections are held, then there might be an inclination towards a vote on whether Italy should remain in the European Union. This will result in further uncertainty on the future of the bloc should it pass.

The strength in the US dollar saw the Rand slump by more than 2% to reach a session low of R12.68/$ before it recovered marginally to trade at R12.59/$ at 17.00 CAT. The benchmark South African 10-year Treasury yield rose to 8.54% as a sell-off also ensued in local government bonds.

A tough trading session ensued on the JSE, particularly for the blue-chip index where a handful of stocks managed to trade in positive territory. The top gainers on that index included Gold miners such as AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] which managed to climb 4.6% and 3.56% respectively, whilst on the broader index Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] jumped by 5.73%. Other miners such as Lonmin [JSE:LON] and Sibanye-Stillwater [JSE:SGL] added 2.09% and 3.36% respectively.

However most of the momentum was to the downside which saw Steinhoff International [JSE:SNH] reach a new all-time low of R1.28 per share. The stock eventually closed at R1.30 per share, down 9.09% for the day. EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] lost 1.15% to close at R33.41 per share, whilst Barloworld [JSE:BAW] and Metair [JSE:MTA] shed 3.36% and 1.42% respectively.

On the Top-40 index, The Foschini Group [JSE:TFG] and Bidvest [JSE:BVT] were among the index’s biggest losers after they closed 4.22% and 3.93% weaker respectively. Telecommunications providers, Vodacom [JSE:VOD] and MTN [JSE:MTN] lost 4.12% and 2.04% respectively. Index heavyweight, Naspers [JSE:NPN], lost 3.65% to close at R3110.38 per share, whilst Discovery Limited [JSE:DSY] closed 3.13% weaker.

The JSE All-Share Index ended the day 1.62% weaker, whilst the JSE Top-40 Index lost 1.84%. All the major indices closed in the red with the biggest loser being the Industrials Index which lost 2.43%. The Financials and Resources indices lost 1.63% and 0.08% respectively.

Trading in Gold was relatively mixed as it swung between gains and losses. At 17.00 CAT the precious metal was trading at $1302.89./Oz, down 0.2% for the day. At that same time Platinum was trading 0.49% firmer at $908.90/Oz, whilst Palladium was trading 0.74% firmer at $989.31/Oz.

Brent Crude recorded a mild recovery from its overnight lows to reach a session high of $76.20/barrel. It failed to maintain that high as it retraced to trade at $75.63/barrel just after the JSE close, up 0.44% for the day.

Bitcoin recorded another session of gains as it added to 2.19% to trade at $7420.00 per coin at 17.00 CAT. Ethereum also rebounded from its session low of $504.52 per coin to trade at $557.00 per coin at 17.00 CAT, up 4.7% for the day.