S.Africa's rand little changed, stocks slip

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand was slightly firmer versus the dollar on Tuesday, largely unmoved by data showing the country has come out of recession, while a fall in gold shares and weaker global equities dragged South African stocks lower.

The JSE Top-40 index of blue chips shed 0.19 percent at 24,772.12 points and the All-share index lost 0.17 percent at 27,377.54 points.

"We're following the American market, just a little bit of a breather after their GDP figures. Commodities also taking a bit of a breather, not rallying for the day. We saw gold coming off its highs," Wilmar Buys, a trader at FFO Securities, said.

"In terms of the short term, both local and international equity markets are overbought, and I think we're due for a little bit of a pullback."

U.S. markets opened lower after data showed home prices rose but at a more sluggish pace and the economy grew more slowly than initially thought in the third quarter.

The local gold index fell 2.4 percent, with AngloGold Ashanti falling the most amongst the blue chips, down 3.15 percent to 330 rand. Platinum miner Lonmin dropped 1.04 percent to 218.70 points.

At 1554 GMT the rand traded 0.42 percent firmer at 7.4710 against the dollar compared with Monday's close at 7.5025.

"The rand was a bit mixed on the day. We started off pretty higher (weaker) around 7.55, but we've been slightly firmer during the course of the day," said Global Trader dealer Paul Chakaduka.

"What we need to watch at the moment is the euro strength or lack of it. The euro is struggling to break the 1.50 level and I think the rand is going to continue looking for direction from the euro," he added.