South African stocks fell for a second straight session on Friday as a firmer rand hit exporters such as Impala Platinum while paper producer Sappi fell sharply after a ratings downgrade. Sappi, the world's largest maker of the fine paper used in glossy magazines, fell over 4 percent to 30.89 rand.
Investment bank Credit Suisse cut its rating on the stock to "underperform" from "neutral", citing management's repeated lowering of guidance.
The rand gained over 0.40 percent, prompting investors to cash in shares of exporters, some of which are also listed in London.
The Top-40 index fell 0.75 percent to 39,642.74, moving further away from life highs scaled earlier this month. The All-share index ended 0.68 percent lower at 44,435.61.
Impala Platinum, the world's second largest platinum producer, fell close to 5 percent to 121.54 rand.
BHP Billiton dropped 1.8 percent to 306.89 rand. Decliners outnumbered advancers 183 to 118 with 56 shares unchanged.
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