Tech stocks could not dodge a broad sell-off on the local exchange on Monday (15 April 2013), fuelled by weaker economic data out of China.<\/p>\n
An analyst at PSG Konsult<\/a> told BusinessTech that the sell-off was ignited by the economic news from the East, with resource stocks continuing to struggle, led by gold shares.<\/p>\n Resource stocks, globally, declined after China’s economic recovery slowed in the first three months of 2013 as the annual rate of growth eased back to 7.7% from 7.9% in the final quarter of 2012, official data showed on Monday (15 April).<\/p>\n The price of the gold dipped below $1,400, its lowest level since March 2011.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sell-off is broad-based. There are some defensive stocks which are slightly higher, like Richemont<\/a>, and Naspers<\/a>,\u201d the analyst said.<\/p>\n Of telco stocks, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s a case of selling now, asking later.\u201d<\/p>\n The JSE All Share Index lost 1.41% to 38,085 points in afternoon trade, having hit an intraday worst level exceeding 2%. The index, however, has recently reached new highs in recent weeks, sustaining a level over the 40,000 mark. \u201cWe may well see a rebound towards the middle of the week,\u201d the analyst said.<\/p>\n Leading tech’s fall, Telkom<\/a> shed 4.39% or 63 cents to R13.72, while Vodacom<\/a> lost 1.54% or R1.67 to R106.73.<\/p>\n MTN<\/a> dropped R1.92 or 1.19% to R159.47. MTN has come off a 52 week range of R184.45, while Vodacom has come off a best of R129.88 over the past year.<\/p>\n Telkom warned on\u00a0Monday (8 April)\u00a0that headline earnings per share for\u00a0the year ended March 2013 are expected to be at least 20% lower than the 324.7\u00a0cents recorded in the prior year.<\/p>\n ICT group Reunert<\/a> fell 2.25% or R1.75 to R76.15, and Allied Technologies (Altech<\/a>) was off by 0.8% to R36.13.<\/p>\n The Altech group advised on Friday (12 April)\u00a0that its headline earnings and adjusted headline earnings per share for the year ended February 2013, are expected to be between 20% and 27% lower than previously.<\/p>\n The group said its basic earnings per share are expected to reflect a loss of between 950 cents and 970 cents, compared to a loss of 283 cents in 2012.<\/p>\n Media and internet giant, Naspers gained R3.48 to R568.08.<\/p>\n Altech expects to extend its losses<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on tech stocks<\/h3>\n