JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks extended losses on Wednesday as traders worldwide wait for U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on Friday to assess prospects of further economic stimulus.
Platinum producer Lonmin Plc extended recent sharp losses, falling a further 4.4 percent, as its operations remain paralysed amid a wave of labour strife that killed 44 people earlier this month, with no sign of a reboot.
Feuding South African unions, platinum producer Lonmin and government officials tried on Wednesday to broker a peace accord to kick-start wage talks but progress was unclear.
Both the benchmark Top-40 index and the broader All-share index shed 0.09 percent to finish at 31.492.04 and 31,737.18 rand respectively.
"There's a lot of repositioning ahead of the Fed Reserve statement on Friday afternoon," said Nick Kunze, a director at Terrassen Capital Management in Johannesburg.
Bernanke will address a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and could announce new measures to boost economic growth.
He is expected to stoke expectations for a third round of quantitative easing, though he may not detail the timing of such a measure.
Aside from Lonmin, other resource stocks that fell in Johannesburg on Wednesday included iron ore producer Kumba, which fell 4 percent, after investors in Australia dumped iron ore miners on signs of weak demand from China.
Steel-maker ArcelorMittal South Africa shed over 3 percent to a 7-year low of 42.46 rand but on the charts its 14-day relative strength index, a measure of momentum, suggest it is entering oversold territory.
In Europe, cyclical mining stocks extended their slide, with the STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index losing 7 percent in three weeks, hurt in part by simmering fears over the pace of economic growth in Asia.
Among other Johannesburg decliners were shares of Capitec Bank which fell 4.02 percent to 215 rand, a day after the mass-market lender flagged that earnings for the first-half would rise by between 25 and 35 percent.
This represents a slowdown in earnings growth for the bank, which has reported heady past returns such as a 50 percent rise in profit last year, boosted by heavy unsecured lending.
Trade was slow, with just 171 million shares changing hands on the bourse compared to last years average of 255 million. Advancers outpaced decliners 146 to 137, while 74 stocks remain unchanged.
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