JOHANNESBURG, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) extended losses on Thursday, weight down by Naspsers.
Naspers's shares fell 4.59 percent to R3,000, after Chinese Internet company Tencent, of which Naspers owns about a third, missed its fourth-quarter revenue targets.
Writing on his twitter handle, David Shapiro, Sasfin Securities deputy chairperson said: "When Tencent sneezes, the JSE catches a really bad cold."
"Despite good numbers, Tencent down 4.5 percent in Hong Kong after signalling increased spending could hurt margins."
Tencent's quarterly net profit to end-December surged 98 percent, beating market estimates.
The all share was down 1.83 percent to 57,224.6, as the index of top 25 industrial stocks shed 2.61 percent, weight down by Naspers and British American Tobacco.
Banks and financial stocks were lower ahead of a decision by Moody's on South Africa's debt rating. Moody's is expected to make an announcement on Friday.
British American Tobacco dropped 4.88 percent to R6372.2, continuing on its recent downward spiral.
But diversified resources helped to keep losses in check, with BHP lost 0.51 percent to R233.36.
Crisis-hit Steinhoff plunged 12.96 percent to R3.09 and Steinhoff Retail Africa 1.62 percent to R20.7. Woolworths dropped 3.58 percent to R61.45.
Financial services group Old Mutual was up 0.02 percent to R41.42.
Telkom was up 0.95 percent to R53.01 and EOH lost 3.26 percent to R45.39.
Sasol dropped 0.03 percent to R403.4 on a weaker rand and lower oil price.
The South Africa's rand was stronger against major global currencies on Thursday, as global market watched for the United States to implement its new tariffs against China.
At 5:30 p.m. the rand was at R11.89 to the U.S. dollar from R11.82, at R14.63 to the euro from R14.59, and at R16.75 to the pound from R16.72. Enditem
