South Africa’s equity markets were heavily battered on Friday noon, tracking global markets which were negatively impacted by events in Ukraine.
During Friday’s intraday trading, the benchmark JSE All Share Index (Alsi) sagged 1,18 percent with some local shares posting huge losses.
Shares of media giant, Naspers, were among the losers, sagging almost 6 percent during intraday trading.
Reuters described Naspers’ slack performance on Friday as the major drop in about 30 months, reporting that the drop was due to a “sell-off” in China’s Tencent Holdings. Naspers has a critical shareholding in Tencent.
US markets closed weaker on Thursday because investors were concerned about continuing political strife in the Ukraine. The Dow Jones sagged 1.41 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.17 percent and the Nasdaq slipped 1.46 percent.
European markets were weak during Friday’s intraday trading shortly before a poll that might prompt Crimea’s withdrawal from the Ukraine.
The CAC40 lost 0.61 percent while German DAX slipped 0.40 percent. And British FTSE 100 was 0.16 percent weaker on Friday’s intraday trade.
On Friday, The Guardian reported that Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s prime minister, faulted Russia for displaying intolerable “military aggression” in Crimea.
These accusations came after Moscow positioned 10,000 soldiers near its border with Ukraine, intensifying the crunch in Crimea.