JOHANNESBURG Jan 30 (Reuters) – South African stocks
fell for a second day on Monday, giving up nearly 1 percent as
investors booked profits after a January rally that pushed
Johannesburg’s broadest index to a string of lifetime highs.
Gold miners such as Harmony Gold and AngloGold
Ashanti bucked the trend, shrugging off the weaker
equity market and a decline in the price of bullion after
Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on both companies to “neutral”
from “sell”.
The All-share index shaved 0.78 percent to
33,629.77, after climbing to a record high of 34,079.54 on
Thursday. The Top-40 index of bluechips lost 0.92
percent to 30,044.33.
“Sentiment is still more or less on the positive side. It’s
just a bit of correction – people taking money off the table.
Overall, I see us testing those new levels again,” said Mitchell
Gannaway, a trader at Thebe Stockbroking.
Harmony, South Africa’s third-biggest gold miner, added
nearly 1.5 percent to 95.40 rand after the Goldman Sachs
upgrade, pushing it to the top of the gainers’ list.
AngloGold, the country’s top producer of the precious metal,
rose 0.5 percent to 360.40 rand.
The brokerage downgraded platinum miners Lonmin,
Impala and Anglo American to a “sell”,
shunting the three to the bottom among the blue chip performers.
Lonmin lost 3.7 percent to 128.49 rand, its worst daily fall
in nearly four months. Implats, the world’s second biggest
producer of the metal, lost 2.75 percent to 174.27 rand.
Amplats, the world’s top miner of the white metal, shed 2.6
percent to 540 rand.
Activity was brisk with 203 million shares trade, according
to preliminary exchange data.
(Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Ed Cropley)
