The JSE ended flat on Tuesday on the back of slightly weaker world markets as market players took a bit of profit after recent good moves and continued to eye company earnings in the US, a local trader said.

At 5pm the JSE all share index had edged up 0.16 percent, with gold miners collecting 0.86 percent, resources inching 0.13 percent higher and platinum miners up 0.58 percent.

Banks and financials firmed 1.53 percent and 1.07 percent respectively, while industrials eased 0.28 percent.

At 4.41pm the rand was bid at 7.35 to the dollar from 7.30 just before the JSE closed on Monday. Gold was at $1058.30 a troy ounce from $1056.78/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1352/oz, from $1336.50/oz at its previous close.

"We had a flattish close today. Markets have run for about six days and to see some profit taking is perfectly normal. Europe turned negative and the Dow is also down," the trader said.

"Also, Johnson & Johnson came out with results that were in line with market expectations, and as we know Alcoa set a very high benchmark and the market expects more.

"There are some big companies still to release their results tonight and for the rest of the week. We will eye those and see what happens. Anything in line with or below expectations will see some profit taking on the market," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks slipped on Tuesday amid earnings news and weakness in the financial sector, which faced bearish analyst comments and worries about regulatory scrutiny.

The DJIA was recently off 52 points, or 0.5 percent, at 9833.73, hurt by a 2.8 percent decline in Johnson & Johnson even after the pharmaceuticals giant posted a 1.1 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, beating analysts' expectations.

Many traders had already placed many of their bets on a strong earnings report prior to the actual release, with Johnson & Johnson shares up nearly 3 percent for the month coming into Tuesday's action.

Dow component Intel was up 0.3 percent in recent action ahead of its report due after the closing bell. The chipmaker was up more than 4 percent for the month-to- date coming into Tuesday's trading.

Other indices also headed lower on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was off 0.6 percent, hurt by declines in every sector. Its financial sector recently was down 1.6 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.2 percent.

Bank of America fell 0.2 percent after a Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman said the bank agreed to a broad waiver of the attorney-client privilege in the investigation into its acquisition of Merrill Lynch last year.

Goldman Sachs Group shares fell 1.7 percent. The company, which reports results on Thursday, was downgraded to neutral from "buy" by bank analyst Meredith Whitney.

Some market veterans remain nervous about what may lie ahead.

The DJIA had last weakened 0.34 percent.

Among equity movers on the JSE, Anglo American plc weakened 81 cents to 253.93 rand and BHP Billiton shed 1.10 rand to 205.90 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol moved 1.29 percent to 291.72 rand.

ArcelorMittal shed 2.61 percent to 112 rand and Highveld Steel dropped 1.69 percent to 72.75 rand.

Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti gained 1.36 percent to 335.50 rand, Gold Fields edged up 30 cents to 109.80 rand and Harmony collected 60 cents to 87 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum declined four rand to 706 rand, but Impala Platinum was up 1.50 rand to 176 rand and Lonmin added 2.45 percent to 192.10 rand.

Among industrials, SABMiller rose 1.25 rand to 189.48 rand, British American Tobacco saw a 1.70 percent to 231 rand and Remgro gained 1.48 percent to 90.70 rand but Imperial was off 2.12 percent to 83.25 rand.

Banking group Standard Bank added 1.21 percent to 99.69 rand, Nedbank gained 1.45 percent to 124.29 rand, Absa added 1.05 percent to 125.30 rand and FirstRand collected 2.77 percent to 16.70 rand.

Financial services group Old Mutual plc was up 2.12 percent to 13 rand. Earlier it announced it had launched and priced a £500-million-fixed rate senior bond, the proceeds of which will be used for general corporate purposes.

Retailer Massmart lost 1.67 percent to 88.20 rand, but Shoprite was up 1.58 percent to 64.20 rand and Clicks collected 2.63 percent to 23 rand.

Liberty International firmed 2.17 percent to 58.45 rand.

Construction group Aveng declined 2.51 percent to 41.87 rand and Murray & Roberts weakened 1.26 percent to 58.13 rand.

Telecommunications group MTN Group gave up 1.97 percent to 124.50 rand, Telkom weakened 1.89 percent to 42.05 rand and Vodacom lost 1.87 percent to 53 rand.