Johannesburg - Stocks opened the second week of the year lower on Monday.
The benchmark JSE Top40 index dipped 0.34 percent to 44306.47 points, while the all share index slipped 0.32 percent to 51049.71 points.
Resource shares came under pressure, despite an up tick in platinum and spot gold prices, amid profit taking following a steady climb of 3.64 percent in the mining sector in the last week.
“Guys are taking a bit of profits here, it’s a pull back after a strong run,” said BP Bernstein trader Vasili Tirasis.
Lonmin dropped 3.61 percent to R28.55, Anglo American Platinum retreated 2.73 percent to R281.70, and AngloGold Ashanti slid 2.6 percent to close at R156.14.
Trading volumes on the bourse continued to be thin with a total of around 140 million shares changing hands.
Meanwhile, the drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks on Wall Street yesterday afternoon as the Dow Jones industrial average moved further from hitting the historic and widely awaited 20000 mark points.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42.63 points, or 0.21 percent, to 19921.17 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 4.01 points, or 0.17 percent at 2272.97 points.