Mining counters led the falls and pushed the JSE to close 391 points weaker on Tuesday amid risk aversion on the back of a stronger US dollar.

At 5pm the JSE all share index had lost 1.45 percent, with resources losing 2.28 percent, platinum counters shedding 2.70 percent and gold miners falling 3.08 percent.

Banks were flat, up 0.16 percent, financials slipped 0.35 percent and industrials weakened 1.11 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.65 to the dollar from 7.53 just before the JSE closed on Monday. Gold was quoted at $1036.65 a troy ounce from $1054.42/oz just before the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1319.50/oz, from $1328/oz at its previous close.

"We ended deep in the red. We saw that after our market closed yesterday the US markets lost momentum," a trader said.

"We lost further ground when the US opened and that is on the back of consumer confidence data which decreased unexpectedly.

"The rand has weakened quite a lot. There is risk aversion in the markets and the dollar is stronger, putting pressure on the commodity prices," he said.

"The weak rand is not even helping these mining stocks and they are leading us lower," he added.

Dow Jones Newswire reports that a double helping of weak data on consumers and manufacturing pushed most stocks lower on Tuesday morning.

Stocks had opened to the upside as a pickup in home prices in August helped jolt a rebound from two straight triple-digit losses for the DJIA. But in recent activity, two late morning reports weighed on trading.

First, the Conference Board said US consumers turned decidedly more pessimistic in October, with households increasingly worried about job prospects. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 47.7 this month, from a revised 53.4 in September, which was originally reported as 53.1. The current month's reading was well below economists' projection of 53.2, according to a survey conducted by Dow Jones Newswires.

In a second report, the manufacturing index from the Richmond branch of the Federal Reserve hit a reading of 7 for October, down from 14 in September.

After reaching higher by more than 50 points, the Dow recently rose 7 points, or 0.1 percent, to 9874. The Standard & Poor's 500 declined 2 to 1065.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 11 to 2131.

Tuesday morning's action follows two consecutive days in the red for stocks, which amounted to the Dow's first set of back-to-back triple-digit declines since June. The slump came on scepticism about a rally that has lasted seven months and pushed the Dow to its highest point of the year last week. The majority of the recent gains have been driven by a wave of better- than-expected quarterly reports, as even with the two-day slide, the Dow is still up roughly 150 points from where it began earnings season with Alcoa's quarterly report.

"The third-quarter earnings have been very good where you're seeing beats not just on the bottom line but also the top line," said Joe Ransom, portfolio manager of the RidgeWorth Select Large Cap Growth Fund. "But even in the best of times, the picture is always mixed."'

The DJIA had last collected 0.45 percent.

On the JSE, Anglo American plc was down 2.41 percent to 287 rand and BHP Billiton dropped 1.65 percent to 224.22 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol lost 2.42 percent to 303 rand.

Highveld Steel weakened 1.50 percent to 65.50 rand and ArcelorMittal declined 1.79 percent to 110 rand.

Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti shed 3.36 percent to 314.99 rand, Gold Fields was down 2.70 percent to 104.35 rand and Harmony declined 2.92 percent to 81.78 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum declined four rand to 665 rand, Impala Platinum was four percent, weaker to 171.60 rand and Lonmin gave up 2.80 percent to 209.49 rand.

In diversified miners, African Rainbow was down 3.12 percent to 157 rand and Exxaro dropped 1.93 percent to 89.74 rand.

Among industrials on the JSE, brewer SABMiller edged up 66 cents to 204.46 rand, Bidvest lost 1.18 percent to 123.38 rand, Imperial gave up 1.36 percent to 83.10 rand and Tiger Brands declined 1.44 percent to 153.76 rand.

Banker Standard Bank was up 66 cents to 99.11 rand but Absa gave up 38 cents to 124.62 rand.

Financial services group Old Mutual weakened 1.22 percent to 13.71 rand.

Media group Caxton weakened 3.70 percent to 13 rand.

Retailer Massmart lost 1.85 percent to 90.86 rand, Foschini declined 2.32 percent to 62.45 rand, Steinhoff weakened 1.79 percent to 18.66 rand, Mr Price was off 2.23 percent to 35 rand and Clicks was down 2.01 percent to 24.35 rand.

Liberty International shed 1.39 percent to 60.40 rand.

Construction group Aveng declined four percent to 40.32 rand, Murray & Roberts declined 4.28 percent to 54.80 rand and WBHO gave up 3.86 percent to 112 rand.

Telecommunications group MTN Group gave up 2.96 percent to 121.01 rand, Telkom was off 2.58 percent to 44.11 rand and Vodacom weakened 40 cents to 54.50 rand.