JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African stocks fell for the second straight session on Tuesday, with platinum mining shares giving up some of the previous day’s gains as investors sized up the cost of a wage deal that ended a crippling five-month strike.
After hitting several record highs in recent weeks, traders also said the main stock indices were vulnerable to some technical selling pressure.
The JSE Top-40 index ended down 0.4 percent at 45,871 and the broader All-share index lost 0.33 percent to 50,890.
“For the moment there is no evidence of trend reversal, but at current levels some marginal technical selling pressure has materialised,” brokerage house Imara SP Reid said in a note.
Charts suggest both indices have limited upside, with the 14-day RSI, a widely watched momentum indicator, showing they have strayed into overbought territory.
Platinum mining shares gave up some of the gains made on Monday when the longest strike in South Africa’s history was announced as over by the AMCU union.
Anglo American Platinum was down 2.2 percent and Lonmin fell by the same margin.
Elsewhere, Woolworths Holdings was down 1.35 percent at 77.52 rand after the retailer said it has offered about $188 million to buyout minorities in its Australian unit Country Road.
Trading volumes were relatively thin with about 145 million shares, or just over 70 percent of the daily average, changing hands, according to the preliminary data from the bourse.
