Johannesburg - The JSE Securities Exchange had a dramatic fall late yesterday on a mis-trade on luxury goods group Richemont.
All the bourse's indices ended in the red following a huge order just before the official end of day trading that placed the Richemont share price at R140, which was 20 percent down from its previous price of R176.
The sudden change in price sent a wave of panic through the market, helping to drag the industrial index down 5,39 percent and helping to shave off 3,16 percent from the all share index. The JSE said in a statement just before 5pm that its main closing prices were wrong and would be updated on Monday.
The mis-trade caused suspicion among traders, who said they would not be surprised if it was planned in an effort to move the market.
The gold and platinum indices remained under pressure from weaker metal prices, falling 3,75 and 3,71 percent respectively. Financial stocks were put under pressure by money supply and private sector credit extension data released early in the day, with the financial index slipping 2,97 percent.
But some dealers said the market shrugged off most of the day's economic data since they were more focused on financial quarter-end and year-end activity.
The JSE opened weaker following a further drop in the Nasdaq overnight. The Nasdaq on Thursday fell to its lowest closing level since late 1998 as worries about the outlook for first-quarter earnings continued to plague the market.
The information technology index on the JSE fell 3,1 percent. Market leader Dimension Data dipped R1,40 to R32,50 and No 2 Datatec fell 40c to R16,50.