SA stocks fall as weak miners eclipse rising banks

South Africa’s main stock benchmark drops for a fourth day, falling 0.2% by 9:42 a.m. in Johannesburg, with weakness in index giant Naspers, and a downturn in miners countering a resurgence in banks and gains in heavyweight Richemont.

Naspers, with an 18% weighting on the index, falls for a second day, down 0.5% to provide the biggest drag to the index, as partly owned Tencent retreats in Hong Kong.

BHP (-0.7%) leads 0.4% drop in the index for mining stocks.

Sub-index for gold companies falls for a second day, down 1.9%, as the rand price of bullion drops to the lowest since March 20.

AngloGold Ashanti -1.5%, Gold Fields -1%, Harmony Gold Mining -3.1%, Pan African Resources -2.1%, DRDGold -1.7%.

Index for platinum companies up 0.1%.

Impala Platinum +0.7%, Northam Platinum +0.8%, Anglo American Platinum +0.5%.

Sibanye Stillwater -0.5%, Royal Bafokeng Platinum -1.3%.

Richemont extends gains to a second day, rising 0.6% to provide biggest boost to the index.

Index for bank stocks up 0.4% as the rand strengthens. Fitch Ratings upgraded the five listed banks, saying they have significant headroom to withstand current pressures on the operating environment.

Standard Bank +0.4%, Nedbank +3%, Capitec Bank +0.1%, Absa +0.6%, FirstRand +0.2%.

Foreigners remained net buyers of South African stocks for a 12th consecutive day Tuesday, purchasing R1.02 billion worth of shares, according to exchange operator JSE Ltd.