The JSE closed in the red on Wednesday, giving up nearly 600 points amid 'healthy profit taking' after the market had 'gotten ahead of itself' over the previous few days, according to a local trader.

By its close, the JSE all share index had given up 2.53 percent, with resources down 3.68 percent while gold counters and platinum miners eased 2.47 percent and 3.87 percent respectively.

Banks weakened 0.85 percent, financials edged down 1.20 percent and industrials shed 1.76 percent.

The rand was last bid at 8.06 to the dollar from 8.02 when the JSE closed on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $978.30/oz a troy ounce from $980.75/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1246/oz from $1244/oz at its previous close.

A local trader said: "There is no real surprise that the markets is down today, having gone overboard over the past couple of sessions and gotten ahead of itself. We have seen a period of healthy profit taking today and we may see further pulling back in a market that has been driven really hard," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks slipped early on Wednesday as new jobs data beat expectations but nevertheless showed a continued haemorrhage of jobs in the US economy.

Investors are also awaiting congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and a new round of data on service-sector activity.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has risen for the last four full trading sessions, was recently down 91 points, or 1 percent, at 8646.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1 percent. The S&P 500 was off 1.4 percent, hurt by declines in every sector.

The consulting firm Automatic Data Processing said private-sector jobs in the US fell by 532,000 slots in May, less than the 550,000 decrease expected by analysts.

The report comes two days ahead of an even more closely anticipated round of monthly employment data due from the Labor Department. Traders are anticipating a similar jobs loss in that report, with the unemployment rate expected to hit 9.2 percent for May, up from 8.9 percent in April, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

With corporate earnings season out of the way, investors have returned their attention to the economy's big picture the last few weeks. Stocks have built on their gains that began in early March during that shift of focus, though some veteran money managers believe the market may be showing some signs of strain.

On Wednesday, investors are also awaiting a new reading of the Institute for Supply Management's service-sector index.

Also of note, Bernanke is testifying before the House Budget Committee. "He is unlikely to signal a further expansion of unconventional measures at this stage, though the measures to date have clearly been beneficial," said Paul Donovan, an economist at UBS, in a note to clients.

Strategists at Credit Suisse Group kept their year-end S&P 500 target at 920 but said they are no longer "overweight" on stocks, saying the recent rise in bond yields has undermined equity valuations. They added that the economic recovery is partially threatened by the rise in yields, with each 10 basis point move on the mortgage rate lopping 1 percent off house prices. And the strategists said they are more positive on bonds as they feel those securities are beginning to offer value.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds slipped 2 basis points to 3.6 percent, but are up from just over 2 percent at the start of the year.

Overseas economic data generally surprised to the upside as Australian growth exceeded estimates and an index of the UK services sector expanded for the first time in 13 months.

Oil futures slipped 66 cents to US$67.89 a barrel ahead of weekly oil inventories data at 10.30am EDT. The dollar advanced against both the yen and the euro.

Overseas, Asian stocks were generally strong, with Chinese shares closing at a 10-month high and Australian stocks rising 1.6 percent after the economic data.

Overseas, Asian stocks were generally strong, with Chinese shares closing at a 10-month high and Australian stocks rising 1.6 percent after the economic data.

On the JSE, Anglo American shed 5.90 percent to 234.30 rand and BHP Billiton gave up 3.99 percent to 197.50 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol eased 1.35 rand to 301 rand.

Kumba Iron Ore fell 5.76 percent to 188 rand.

Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti lost 1.49 percent to 332.98 rand while Gold Fields dropped 4.24 percent to 104 rand. Harmony eased 1.93 percent to 94.15 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum advanced 1.01 percent to 595.01 rand, but Impala Platinum gave up 6.02 percent to 187.01 rand and Lonmin shed 4.12 percent to 198 rand.

Aquarius shed 4.61 percent to 39.49 rand with Northam Platinum down 5.14 percent to 34.15 rand.

In diversified miners, African Rainbow dropped 2.52 percent to 139.20 rand and Exxaro gave up 2.41 percent to 81 rand.

Among industrials on the JSE, SABMiller was off 3.26 percent to 166.76 rand, Barloworld gave up 6.57 percent to 38.10 rand and Imperial weakened 1.99 percent to 59 rand.

However, Tiger Brands was up 48 cents to 141.98 rand but AECI slipped 2.08 percent to 47 rand.

Cement manufacturer PPC, gave up 3.41 percent to 29.75 rand.

Banking group Standard Bank lost 1.05 percent to 85.10 rand and Absa gave up 1.47 percent to 100.50 rand.

Santam however gained 4.14 percent to 81.99 rand but Sanlam eased 1.58 percent to 16.82 rand. The financial services group earlier reported that total new business volumes (excluding low margin white label business) increased by two percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year, despite challenging trading conditions.

However, normalised headline earnings per share were down 23 percent, reflecting a continuation of the negative investment market performance in 2009, the group said in an operational update.

Core earnings per share for the four months to 30 April 2009 were six percent lower than the comparable period in 2008.

Among retailers, Truworths shed 3.92 percent to 36.75 rand with Foschini down 3.06 percent to 49.44 rand

Telecommunications group MTN Group fell 2.03 percent to 121 rand and Telkom shed 3.98 percent to 36.20 rand with Vodacom also slightly down by 25 cents to 53.80 rand.

Publisher Naspers dropped 2.11 percent to 190 rand.

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