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Johannesburg - South African stocks fell on Monday, dragged down by blue-chip heavyweight Sasol [JSE:SOL] as the price of crude oil gave up earlier gains and skidded back towards $60 a barrel.
Views that some shares might have been overbought also weighed.
Sasol took the most points off the benchmark Top-40-index, snapping a three-day winning run that pushed had pushed the petro-chemicals company up by nearly 20%.
After the market closed on Monday, Sasol announced that it had obtained a $4bn credit facility for its ethane cracker and derivatives complex in Louisiana.
Shares in the synthetic fuel maker, which sells its fuel at the same price as firms that import and refine crude oil, dropped 3.8% to R435.
"We have had quite strong sessions last week and some traders are starting question if the rally has pushed some stocks to overbought levels," said Lavan Gopaul, a Johannesburg-based independent trader.
The blue-chip Top-40-index ended 0.17% lower at 43 583 and the broader All-share-index was off 0.1% at 49 339.
Other decliners were mining groups Anglo American and Impala Platinum, down 1.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
Defensive stocks such SABMiller and British American Tobacco restricted the downside momentum, both rising 0.45% and 1.6% respectively.
Volumes were thin because most players are already away on year-end holidays. Just over 100 million shares changed, well below last year's daily average of 176 million shares.
