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JSE extends losses

Johannesburg - South African shares extended losses on Tuesday, falling just over 1% as a firmer rand currency put pressure on resource companies such as Anglo American.

Shoprite dropped nearly 2% after posting the slowest first-half profit growth in eight years as customers of Africa's biggest retailer grapple with high debt, job losses and inflation.

"The resources are all about profit taking and rand strength at the moment," said Robby Pietropaolo, a trader at Vunani Private Clients. "We could still get a bounce later in the week, a little bit of a relief rally."

The Top-40 index shed 1%, the second consecutive drop, to 42 442.25. The All-share lost 0.9% to 46 956.75.

Both indices are still within shooting distance of record highs, making it easy for investors to take profit when the rand strengthens.

The rand gained 0.6% against the dollar to R10.7265/$ at 16:00GMT, prompted investors earlier to cash in shares of mining companies and other exporters.

A stronger rand is a negative for exporters, as it weakens profits when overseas earnings are brought home.

Johannesburg's mining index fell 2.5% led by global mining giant Anglo American, which slid 3.2% to R268.50.

Shares of South Africa's biggest construction firm, Aveng also dropped more than 2% after it posted lower half-year profit following delays in public building projects and labour unrest.

On the upside, No. 2 banking group FirstRand gained 1% after alerting investors its half-year earnings rose by as much as 22%.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 200 to 122 with 54 shares unchanged, according to preliminary bourse data. Activity was relatively brisk with around 220 million shares changing hands.

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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.41
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.33
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.0%
Platinum
908.05
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.94
+1.3%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
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