South Africa stocks slip into red for 2011

South African stocks slipped to their first annual loss since the 2008 financial crisis, giving up 0.6 percent as concerns about the euro zone shredded confidence in miners and other firms sensitive to global growth.

While Johannesburg's slight decline outperformed many developed and emerging markets in 2011, the pain was far worse for foreign investors, who saw their returns eroded by a nearly 20 percent drop in the rand currency.

The sluggish stock performance is likely to continue due to the uncertainty about Europe, traders have said.

"You could have gone to the beach for the whole year and come back and caused less damage to a portfolio," said Abri du Plessis, chief investment officer at Gryphon Asset Management in Cape Town.

The benchmark Top-40 index finished 2011 at 28,469.81, down 0.06 on the day and a decline of 0.59 percent for 2011.

The broader All-share index rose 0.02 percent on Friday, but booked an annual loss of 0.36 percent.

Platinum producers Lonmin Plc and Impala Platinum were the two worst performing blue chips in 2011, hit by a 22 percent price decline in the precious metal.

Lonmin dropped 40 percent for the year, while Impala Platinum tumbled 28 percent.

Cigarette maker British American Tobacco Plc and retailer Woolworths -- both recent additions to the Top-40 index -- were the top performers.

British American, the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes, jumped 50 percent, while Woolworths, which sells clothing and high-end food, surged 45 percent.

In local currency terms, South Africa was the best performer among the BRICS emerging market economies, whose other members include Brazil, Russia, India, China.

However, in dollar terms, the Top-40 fell more than 19 percent this year, roughly in line with Shanghai, Hong Kong and Russia. It outperformed Brazil and India.

Foreign investors have been net sellers so far this year. Foreigners have sold a net 18.5 billion rand of local shares as of the end of last week, exchange data showed on Thursday.

Overseas investors have not been net sellers of South African stocks on annual basis since 2008.

Trade was thin during the half-day session, with just 50 million shares changing hands, according to preliminary exchange data. That was well below the 200-day average of around 245 million shares.