The JSE was a tad weaker in early afternoon trade on Monday, dragged lower mainly by the resources sector.
Trading volumes were very low due to public holidays in the US and UK, which carry a number of JSE-listed heavyweight industrial shares such as SABMiller.
The all share was off 0.18% at 53‚957.80 points, with the blue-chip top 40 losing 0.12%. Gold miners, which have lagged the broader market this month, gave up 1.45%.
The gold price held steady at $1.204 per ounce on the day but has reversed recent gains due a relatively stronger dollar on global markets.
Earnings data continued to roll out in the SA marketplace, with Illovo shares sliding more than 8% after reporting a 7.7% dip in full-year headline earnings per share.
Earlier in Asia, equity markets ended mostly higher, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 settling up 0.74%
Among some individual shares, Glencore was off 1.03% at R53.95, with Anglo Gold Ashanti slipping 1.63% to R118.60 and Harmony Gold dropping 1.76% to R17.88.
Anglo American Platinum was down 3.54% to R296.01 and Lonmin gave up 3.95% to R24.79.
Woolworths was up 1.59% to R98.75.
Illovo Sugar tumbled 8.88% to R19.20 while Tongaat Hulett was off 0.68% at R130.25.
