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Platinum firms shine, but JSE retreats

Johannesburg - South African stocks fell on Tuesday as iron ore prices continued their downward march, hitting companies such as ArcelorMittal, but platinum producers shined due to a slightly softer dollar.

The benchmark Top-40 index fell 0.98% to 43 500 while the broader All-Share index skidded 0.92% to 48 712.

Steel producer ArcelorMittal fell 2.4% to R37.50 as iron ore prices hovered near five-year lows, while Kumba Iron Ore slid 2.6 percent to R272.50.

Spot iron ore in Asia ticked up to $80 a tonne on Tuesday but the price is down 40 percent from the start of the year and hit a five-year low of $77.50 last week amid concerns about a slowdown in China, the world's top consumer of iron ore.

Platinum producers bucked the downward trend, with the Johannesburg-listed sub-index up 3.9 percent on the back of a stronger spot platinum price.

Anglo American Platinum was the biggest climber in the Top-40, jumping 5.3% to R374, its largest daily gain in more than a year.

Smaller rival Impala Platinum rose 1.8% to R88.5.

"Platinum is having a good day. It was hit quite hard last week and the feeling is that it was oversold," said Rabi Thithi, an equities trader at Avior Research.

A below-average 161 million shares changed hands. Decliners narrowly edged out advancers, 127 to 121.

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Rand - Dollar
18.93
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.90
+0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.40
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.32
+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%
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