Johannesburg - Stocks were barely changed on Thursday, with retailer Woolworths coming under pressure after reporting a drop in half-year profit.
The benchmark JSE Top40 index dipped 0.16 percent to 45485.46 points, while the all share index dropped 0.19 percent to 52586.37 points.
Woolworths dropped 3.94 percent to R70.50 after reporting a 4.3 percent drop in half-year profit.
“It’s news that is already in the market place but when this comes out and they actually see the fact of the thing, there is a reaction in the market and then it gets a bit overdone and buying comes back in,” said Afrifocus securities portfolio manager, Ferdi Heyneke.
Among the biggest decliners were Aspen, which dropped 3.97 percent to R296.57, and Anglo American, which retreated 3.06 percent to R219.89.
Meanwhile, a gauge of major world equity markets scaled a fresh record yesterday, boosted by rosy global data.
MSCI’s all-country world index hit an intraday record for a second consecutive session in the afternoon, although stocks on Wall Street dipped as the financial sector lost ground for the first time in five sessions.
The Dow Jones industrial average had lost 0.11 percent to 20590.13 points and the Standard & Poor’s 500 had dropped 0.27 percent to 2342.96 points.