JSE closes weaker on Thursday

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) tumbled on Thursday, weighed down by resources, but banks and retailers firmed.

The all share index was off 0.15 percent at 53,502.01 points at close of session, with the top 40 index slipping 0.62 percent. The gold miners shed 0.62 percent, while the resource dropped 0.72 percent.

The SA rand was trading at R14.24 to the US dollar, R18.78 to the British pound and R16.08 to the euro.

Gold had slipped 0.05 percent to 1,322.71 U.S. dollars an ounce.

The resource shares weakened on a combination of some profit-taking, particularly in the diversified miners, and weak commodity prices.

Banks and retailers were taking cue from the standoff between Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the crime-busting unit, the Hawks as the rand fall sharply.

"Foreigners take fright at the old story coming around again," said Liston Meintjes, analyst at Sasfin Asset Managers, said. In last December when the then minister of finance, Nhlanhla Nene was unceremoniously axed and the rand took a heavy knock.

The global market is waiting for a speech by US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen on Friday. She is expected to clear up speculation about when the rates in that country will rise.

Among individual shares, Anglo American was off 01.97 percent at R156.56, with Glencore dropping 2.14 percent to R33.33. Kumba Iron Ore lost 3.93 percent to R132.59.

Gold Fields shed 2.83 percent to R80.44, with Sibanye tumbling 3.20 percent at R62.91 despite strong interim results.

Bucking the trend, Old Mutual regained 0.66 percent to R36.71 and Capitec recovered 1.26 percent to R592.39.

Woolworths rose 2.11 percent to R87.30 after reporting that annual headline earnings per share to end June rose 23.2 percent. Endit