South African stocks inch lower, Sasol under pressure

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks ended a touch lower on Friday with Sasol among the biggest decliners as the price of crude oil slipped towards $63 a barrel. Sasol, which makes fuel from coal and gas but sells it at the same price as companies that import and refine crude oil, dropped 1.48 percent to 427.19 rand. Overall, traders refrained from making any large bets, juggling the ramifications of Greek debt default with hopes an emergency meeting of euro zone leaders would allow the south-eastern European country to avoid missing debt repayments. "We've had some good news from the Fed about interest rates this week but now people are kind of sitting back trying to get a feel about what's going to happen to Greece," Desmond Reilly, a portfolio manager at PSG Securities, said. The Top-40 index ended 0.09 percent lower at 46,170 and the All-share index, the broadest measure of the South African stock market performance, lost 0.18 percent to 51,806. Kumba Iron Ore also featured on the decliners' list, falling 1.07 percent to 156.30 as the price of iron looked set to book its biggest weekly drop in more than two months. Boosted by a higher bullion price, which was on course to log a second straight weekly gain, AngloGold Ashanti was 1.10 percent higher at 117.78 rand and rival Gold Fields added 1.45 percent to 39.19 rand. Trading volumes were robust with 219 million shares changing hands, well above last year's daily average of 183 million shares. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by Ralph Boulton)