JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed lower on Tuesday as the market remained cautious ahead of the medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday.
At close, the all share index was 0.16 percent lower at 57,904.72 points and the blue-chip top 40 shed 0.14 percent to 51,597.49 points.
General retailers dropped 0.5 percent, food and drug retailers 0.35 percent, resources 0.21 percent. Gold mining lost 0.96 percent and banks gained 0.36 percent. The industrial and financial indices also lost ground. The industrial index was 0.12 percent softer and the financial index 0.22 percent down.
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba is preparing for his first mid-term budget policy statement on Wednesday. The market is waiting to see whether this new minister is able to rescue South Africa's economy.
Some of the other dual-listed shares hardly moved. Naspers was only 0.04 percent higher at R3,275 and Steinhoff traded 0.39 percent higher at R61.4. Richemont added 0.2 percent to R123.58.
British American Tobacco traded 1.13 percent lower at R873.64.
Anglo added 0.46 percent to R263.03. Kumba Iron Ore tumbled 2.84 percent to R266.57, ArcelorMittal shed 4.44 percent to R5.60.
Among gold stocks, Harmony added 1.09 percent to R22.19 but Sibanye lost 0.41 percent to R16.83.
Among banks, Standard Bank advanced to settle at 0.96 percent to R166.41, FirstRand climbed 0.02 percent to R52.98.
Woolworths fell 0.35 percent to R57.06. The share is down 19.5 percent in 2017.
Group Five advanced 2.98 percent to settle at R11.99. The group recouped after Friday's 14 percent drop.
