JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks ended down on Wednesday after worries about the U.S. economy and concerns over Greece's new debt deal hit the resource-heavy bourse and dragged gold companies such as Harmony Gold sharply lower.
World equity markets declined as investors fretted that a lack of progress in talks on U.S. budget woes risked putting the world's largest economy into recession, dragging down global growth with it.
U.S. lawmakers remained deadlocked over dramatic, year-end tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff".
"There is quite a bit of negativity around the fiscal cliff and that the U.S. government is not doing enough to get past this obstacle," said Bruno van Eck, a trader at Thebe Securities in Johannesburg.
The Top-40 index closed down 1.06 percent at 33,225.91, while the broader All-share index shed 0.97 percent to 37,438.41.
Harmony, South Africa's third-largest gold producer, led the losers, falling 3.85 percent to 70.94 rand after the spot bullion price shed more than 1.5 percent.
Larger peers AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields also closed in negative territory, down 2.4 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Investment holding company Remgro ended down 0.9 percent after warning it was likely to report a more than 20 percent drop in first-half earnings.
Gainers were led by base metals miner Assore, up 1.9 percent on the day, followed by consumer goods group Tiger Brands, up 1.62 percent.
Shares of Amalgamated Appliance Holdings closed up 6.6 percent after conglomerate Bidvest said it would buy the remaining 72 percent stake in the distributor and retailer of household appliances it does not already own in a $61 million cash deal.
Van Eck said he expected the negative sentiment to hold through the rest of the week.
"I'm still waiting to see this market come off a bit easier," he said. "There is still a bit of a bubble that is sitting there in the retail sector."
Retailers, which include Massmart, Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Spar, are among the best performing stocks in Johannesburg this year.
Trade volume was reasonable, with just under 165 million shares changing hands, compared with last year's daily average of 255 million shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers at 170 to 116, with 57 stocks unchanged.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/african-stocks-end-lower-us-fiscal-worries-154145601--finance.html
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