South African stocks ended a see-saw session marginally lower on Monday, pulling back from three-week highs in the day as cautious investors digested comments from US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. The US central bank's "extraordinary" commitment to boosting the economy, especially the still-struggling labour market, will be needed for some time to come, Yellen said in her first public speech since becoming Fed chair two months ago.
Analysts do not expect the Fed to pull back on a decision to taper bond purchases that have boosted emerging markets such as South Africa. Johannesburg's bluechip JSE Top-40 index inched down 0.4 percent to 42,996.63. The broader All-share index also edged down 0.33 percent to 47,770.92. Vodacom lost nearly 2 percent to 129.99 rand and MTN was down more than 1 percent at 215.55 rand.