South Africa's resource-heavy bourse ended lower on Monday, dragged down by heavyweight BHP Billiton and global equity weakness that also knocked the rand.
The JSE Securities Exchange's Top 40 Index closed down 1.91% to 24 651.14 points, while the broader All Share Index dropped 1.69% to 26 703.51 points.
"International market sentiments weighed on our local markets (as did) big moves (lower) in BHP Billiton," Nilan Morar, head dealer at Global Trader, said.
Mining giants and index heavyweights BHP Billiton lost 3.80% to R231.75 and rival miner Anglo American was down 2.08% to R400.
"The market is very quiet if you look at the volumes because the London market is closed. So we've got very very thin volumes here," Gideon Muller, a trader at Thebe Securities, said.
The rand was weaker after testing a two-week high earlier in the session, while government bonds treaded water ahead of Wednesday's release of last month's consumer inflation data.
The local currency was trading at 7.73 against the dollar at 3.45pm, 0.6% softer than its previous close in New York, although it was little changed against the euro at around 11.40am.
Traders said the rand kept to expected ranges during the session with volumes relatively light given the holiday in the United Kingdom.
It started the day on the back foot but soon recovered to 7.6540, just off a two-week peak touched on Friday, before a negative opening for US stocks spurred some risk aversion.
"Essentially it is where it opened this morning...(but) I think that (lower U.S. shares) might be the push as to why we are weaker this afternoon," Bidvest Bank chief dealer Ion de Vleeschauwer said.
"Just a bit of negativity about stock markets in general (that) is keeping the rand from strengthening further."
Softer metals prices may also have weighed on the rand, with gold dropping more than one percent as oil prices dipped. The dollar edged firmer against the euro but was weaker against the Japanese yen.
A report showed the pace of existing home sales in the United States rose higher than expected, pointing to some stability in that sector.
Government bonds were largely flat, with the benchmark 2015 yield 0.5 basis points up at 9.275% for the day and the 2036 yield unchanged at 8.72%.
The yield on the two-year bond was at 9.92% 1.5 basis points higher.
Investors are watching for July inflation data on Wednesday for signs on how high the peak in the targeted CPIX will be after it hit a record 11.6% year-on-year in June.
On the bourse, South Africa's biggest consumer-branded goods group Tiger Brands was the biggest loser, falling 19.87% to R127 after unbundling drug company Adcock Ingram.
Impala Platinum , the world's No. 2 platinum producer, dropped 3.33% to R212.68 and Absa shed 3.61% to R102.75.
AngloGold Ashanti , the world's number three gold producer, lost 1.74% to R203 and Gold Fields fell 1.82% to R67.25 on the lower gold price.
Industrial group Barloworld , was the biggest gainer, increasing 3.12% to R64.55.