The JSE ended marginally weaker on Monday, underperforming the main world stocks, as rand recovery from the worst level of the session kept general mining shares on the back foot.

At 17:00 local time, the JSE all-share index was down 0.19 percent to 33,086 points, with the platinum sector losing 0.53 percent, resources easing off 0.44 percent, while gold counters were flat (0.01).

Financials were down 0.21 percent, banking stocks were off 0.19 percent, while industrials were flat at -0.01.

The rand recovered to 8.27 to the US dollar, from 8.30 at the JSE's close on Friday, while gold was quoted at US$1,591 a troy ounce from US$1,595.39/oz at the JSE's previous close and platinum was at US$1,461.50/oz, from US$1,463.20/oz at the previous session.

"The rand strength/recovery held back the resource counters," said Johan de Kok, market analyst at Momentum Asset management. "But we held up relatively well last week when most of the international markets fell hard."

US stocks opened higher on Monday, bouncing from a recent stretch of sharp declines, as broad gains in European markets helped soothe some fears about the eurozone and Greece, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

European markets were mostly higher after the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations affirmed over the weekend that they wanted Greece to remain in the eurozone.

"People are positive about what's coming out of the G8," said Doreen Mogavero, president of Mogavero Lee & Company, a New York brokerage. "It looks like the politicians are willing to work together and move forward."

Also supporting sentiment, weekend polls showed support was growing for the Greek conservatives, which helped ease worries about the political turmoil in the country.

On the JSE, Anglo American (AGL) was down R1.54 to R266.80, BHP Billiton (BIL) slipped 77 cents to R226, while Sasol (SOL) shaved off R3.47 to R348.80.

AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) trimmed 43 cents to R285.50, but Gold Fields (GFI) recovered 36 cents to R104.01 and Harmony Gold Mining (HAR) was flat at R77.04.

Northam Platinum (NHM) dipped 40 cents, or 1.43 percent, to R27.60 while Aquarius (AQP) eased 19 cents, or 1.70 percent, to R11.

Among other miners, Exxaro (EXX) lifted R2.32, or 1.28 percent, to R183.67.

In industrials, Barloworld (BAW) rallied R2.93, or 3.60 percent, to R84.25 after the industrial brands management group reported a 70 percent rise in headline earnings per share to 245 cents for the six months ended March 2012 from 144 cents a year ago. An interim dividend of 80 cents per share was declared - up 60 percent on a year ago.

Richemont (CFR) gained R1.07, or 2.15 percent, to R50.77.

Vodacom (VOD) jumped R3.10, or 3.10 percent, to R103.10 after the mobile service operator reported an 8.1 percent rise in headline earnings per share to 709 cents for the year ended March 2012 from 656 cents a year ago.

African Bank Investments (ABIL, ABL) rose 57 cents, or 1.61 percent, to R36.02. The financial services group posted a 25 percent increase in headline earnings from R1.095 billion to R1.370 billion for the six months ended March 31 2012.

Naspers (NPN) fell R23.79, or 5.17 percent, to 436.21. Poor performances by social networks, especially Facebook, dragged the stock down. Naspers (NPN) is a 10.3 percent shareholder in Russia's Mail.Ru group, which is also an investor in Facebook. The company also owns 30 percent of Chinese firm Tencent.