Johannesburg - Mining giant BHP Billiton hit a 23-month high of R64.30 in intraday trade on Friday, cheered by the week's strong results and positive outlook, and helping to neutralise losses in the broader bourse, traders said.
Billiton, the world's largest diversified miner, rose 0.4 percent to close at R63.90, the top traded stock by deals after it said second-quarter profit more than doubled, driven by surging sales in China and rising metals prices.
The results came in at the top end of market forecasts and analysts said the miner was poised for an exceptional 2004/05 on the back of continued demand in China.
In comparison, peer Anglo American, which is expected to report a drop in annual earnings on Wednesday, fell 1.02 percent to close at R165.
The strength of the rand and Australian dollar is expected by mining analysts to help drag down Anglo's 2003 net profit before exceptional items by around 5 percent, according to a Reuters poll of 11 industry analysts.
Losses in Anglo as well as heavyweight gold mining shares pushed the FTSE/JSE Africa al l share index down 0.32 percent to 10 983.91 points. The Top40 index fell 0.4 percent to 10 070.87 points. About R2.9 billion worth of shares changed hands.
Financial giants Old Mutual and Nedcor kick off a busy week for the stock market, dominated by results, economic data and interest rate news from the Reserve Bank.
The New York spot price for platinum dropped $1 to $854.
Anglo American Platinum, the world's biggest platinum miner, declined R8 to R292.
Gold shares fell as the precious metal lost ground in European trade as the market digested fresh dollar gains against the euro, which lured investors away from safe haven bullion.
London bullion lost $4.95 to close at $405.25 (R2 725.54).
Leading the sector's losers was Harmony Gold, the gold producer most heavily geared to the rand, which gave up 2.8 percent to R106.90, and Durban Roodepoort Deep, heavily geared to the dollar-based international gold price, which slipped 2.4 percent to R22.45.
Gold Fields, the world's fourth-biggest gold producer, eased 0.9 percent to R83.25.
Elsewhere Iscor, the country's largest steel producer, hit a fresh life high of R33.80, spurred higher after analysts upgraded the miner because first-half profit declined less than expected. Iscor closed up 3.8 percent at R33.19.
Some analysts said they had been surprised by the strong outlook for the international steel price, forcing them to revise their forecasts.
Exxoteq, an oil and gas exploration company, surged 20 percent to 60c after it agreed with Strong Energy Resources of the US to help develop two oil blocks off Angola's coast.
Exxoteq had 95 percent participation rights to the project, the company said in a statement.
Iliad Africa rose 1 percent to R5.20 after it said fiscal 2003 earnings a share before one-time items would be 10 percent to 30 percent higher than the year before.
Naspers slid 0.8 percent to R44.90, after it said a gain of at least 30 percent in fiscal 2004 earnings from the previous year, may not be repeated in following years.
Bonds were little changed, but traders said the debt market was also rangebound after the 2004 budget, released in the middle of last week, had fitted largely in line with expectations.