South African stocks on Friday backed slightly off record peaks scaled in the previous session as world shares wilted on growing jitters over US political talks to avert a "fiscal cliff" of drastic spending cuts and tax hikes.
Friday's losers included platinum producer Lonmin, which shed 2.10 percent as it embarked on a search for a new chief executive after Ian Farmer, who is being treated for a serious illness, asked to step aside.
The All-share index lost 0.11 percent to end the day at 39,385.04 while the Top 40 index shed 0.14 percent to 34,930.61. Both moved away from record peaks and closing levels hit on Thursday but remain set to end the year on a high note. The All-share in rand terms is up about 23 percent so far in 2012.
"We will have a bit of a push up on Monday. Some funds might want to have their assets valued higher so they may come into the market on Monday and push things," said Michael Carlsson, a broker at Consilium Securities in Johannesburg.
The market will trade until noon on Monday for New Year's Eve and be closed on Tuesday. Trade was thin in the session, with just 70 million shares changing hands according to preliminary exchange data. Decliners outnumbered advancers 133 to 127.