The JSE remained in the red by noon on Thursday in what a trader said was the market consolidating and seeing some profit taking after some good runs in recent weeks.

At 12pm the JSE all share index had weakened 0.48 percent, with resources down 0.58 percent, but platinum and gold stocks edged up 0.28 percent and 0.30 percent respectively.

Banks lost 1.39 percent, financials weakened 0.91 percent and industrials eased 0.10 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.50 to the dollar from 7.36 just before the JSE closed on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1056 a troy ounce from $1060.30/oz just before the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1358/oz, from $1356.50/oz at its previous close.

"The market is down, we are not too surprised. Not too much needs to happen to get the market to see some profit taking," the trader said.

"There is definitely a bit of rand weakness as well. We got into overbought levels in the short term and the market is volatile - we are seeing some big swings intraday.

"However, we are still generally seeing very good results from companies in the US, there are signs that the economy is picking up. We had a very good couple of weeks; we saw new highs and the market will need to consolidate before we move to new levels. This is all just on the back of profit taking more than anything. International markets are also lower," he said.

"The banks are weaker and that is on the back of the weak rand. Also we will wait to see what happens with interest rates this afternoon. I believe they might be left unchanged. I think any move other than unchanged will be a surprise," he added.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the FTSE 100 moved lower following the release of UK retail sales for September. This release was unchanged on the month, a fair bit lower than the 0.5 percent growth rate expected by the market, said ING Bank. "With households still paying down debts and looking to save more in an environment of weak income growth, the recovery is likely to be slower and less vigorous relative to previous recovery periods," added ING.

The FTSE 100 was last down 1.37 percent.

US stocks are called to open lower on Thursday, continuing the dip in the last session and following the slump across Europe and Asia. David Morrison at GFT called the DJIA down 15 points and S&P 500 down three points. "There is creeping disappointment as we get deeper into the earnings season," Morrison said. He said although analyst estimates were getting beaten in most cases, the bar is very low. It's a busy day for earnings - Dow Chemical, UPS, Xerox and American Express are but a few reporting. Initial jobless claims are at 12.30pm GMT.