The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) retreated broadly on Friday, after a strong run over the past two consecutive days.

Traders took advantage of the weak global backdrop to lock in profits in some of the stocks, leaving the all share index down 1.45 percent at 51,949.83 points at close of session. The blue-chip top 40 index was down 1.45 percent to 45,425.59 points.

Financial stocks, in particular, were the notable losers but miners generally outperformed thanks to weaker rand, which breached the R14 to the dollar mark for first time in about two weeks.

The rand was trading at R13.74 to the U.S. dollar, R17.81 to the British pound and R15.43 to the euro.

Among individual shares on the JSE, global resources giant Glencore was off 3.08 percent to R37.80 and Sasol eased 0.88 percent to R377.00. Kumba Iron's shares climbed 3.69 percent to R123.94.

Northam Platinum rose 3.76 percent to sell at R51.89 and Harmony rose 3.04 percent to R48.50. Barloworld lost 3.76 percent to R84.50. 

Source : XINHUA