South African stocks ended a touch lower on Wednesday, breaking a four-day winning streak, with Lonmin topping the decliners' list on Glencore plans to divest its stake in the platinum mining firm. Commodities trader Glencore said it plans to distribute its 23.9 percent stake in the world's third-largest platinum producer to shareholders.
"What this does is create an overhang, potential sellers of the shares, that is why the Lonmin share price is down," said Sasha Naryshkine, fund manager at Vestact. Lonmin, which has been battered by a 5-month strike, rising costs and weak platinum prices, dropped 5.7 percent to 29.35 rand, its biggest daily percentage decline since July last year.
The benchmark JSE Top-40 index ended 0.05 lower at 45,891 and the broader All-share index edged down 0.08 percent at 52,069. Group Five fell nearly 2 percent to 24.90 rand after the construction company said first-half profit fell by 47 percent. On the upside, Northam Platinum jumped 6.68 percent to 43.58 rand after the mining firm said it expects to return to profit in the six months to the end of December. Activity was relatively brisk with about 192 million shares traded compared to last year's daily average of 185 million shares, according to preliminary bourse data.
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