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Johannesburg - South African stocks retreated from record highs on Tuesday on as Coronation Fund Managers [JSE:CML] flagged lower first-half earnings but iron ore companies bucked the weaker trend.
Shares in Coronation slid 8.8% to R96, its biggest daily decline in six years after the money-manager reported that profits would slip by up to 15%.
The benchmark Top-40 index was down 0.42% to 48 758 and the broader All-share index down 0.27% to 55 039.
Iron ore producer Assore [JSE:ASR] surged 9.6% on the back of higher iron ore prices which approached a two-month high of $60 a tonne as steel mills in the largest consumer China replenished inventories.
"The iron ore price has been rising, certain small mines have been cutting back on production and the most important thing is that these shares have been hugely oversold," said Greg Katzenellenbogen, director at Sanlam Private Wealth.
Industry rival Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] added 8.4% to R174.
Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] was up 7.4% to R326 and rival Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] rose 7.6% to R68, tracking the rising platinum price.
Katzenellenbogen said the next few days of trading would be volatile as traders would be looking to "square their books" as the month ends.
On the downside, global company British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] was down 3.71% to R661.51 and international private hospital group, Mediclinic International [JSE:MDC] was 2.96% lower to R126.72.
With 252 million shares changing hands, trade was robust compared to last year's daily average of 183 million shares.
