Written by Neo Khanyile | From Bloomberg

South African stocks fell for the biggest weekly decline in three, joining an emerging-market selloff from Asia to Latin America as disappointing earnings and a debt default weighed on riskier assets.

The 164-member FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index dropped 0.9 percent to 50,917.78, the lowest since June 27, and extending its slide this week to 1.2 percent. MTN Ltd., SABMiller Plc (SAB) and BHP Billiton Plc (BIL) were among the biggest decliners today.

There’s “a bit of a global profit-taking that would be taking risk off the table after a very strong first half of the year,” Garth Mackenzie, founder of Johannesburg-based TradersCorner.co.za, said by phone today. “SAB, MTN specifically, are very much emerging market-focused.”

The Johannesburg gauge decreased in line with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which dropped 1.9 percent this week, the worst performance since March. Latin American stocks slipped after Argentina missed a deadline for a $539 million bond interest payment and shares in Asia retreated after Samsung Electronics Co. reported earnings that missed estimates.

Read more at Bloomberg