South African stocks pull back from record high, charts bearish

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks ended lower on Wednesday, with charts suggesting the main indices have limited upside after hitting several record highs in the past few weeks. Johannesburg's main stock index lost 0.26 percent to 42,952.98, and the broader All-share index edged down 0.18 percent at 47,514.80. On Tuesday Africa's biggest stock market hit another record high, pushing its gains to nearly 10 percent since the start of February. Charts suggest both indices have limited upside, with their 14-day RSI, a widely watched momentum indicator, showing they have strayed into overbought territory. "Broadly, the market has performed fairly strongly since hitting the lows in the beginning of February," said Ferdi Heyneke, a trader at Afrifocus Securities. Coal mining firm Exxaro Resources featured on the decliners' list, falling 2.36 percent to 145.48 rand after notching up more than 5 percent of gains in the past three trading sessions. Capitec Bank jumped 4.4 percent to 190 rand after the unsecured lender said full-year profit likely rose as much as 16 percent, bucking the trend in a sector hit by loan writedowns. Top two platinum miners Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum pared gains after wage talks with the striking AMCU union broke down. Smaller rival Lonmin skidded 3.6 percent to 52.30 rand. Advancers outnumbered decliners 152 to 137 with 65 issues unchanged, according to preliminary bourse data. Turnover was average with around 180 million shares changing hands.