The Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) ended lower on Friday as escalating violence in the Middle East and record high oil prices saw investors globally run for cover.

Only the gold index bucked the trend following a rally in the bullion price overnight.

The all share index ended 1.37 percent weaker at 20,676.20. Industrials lost 1.54 percent, while the financial and banks indices fell 1.25 percent and 2.04 percent respectively.

Resources retreated 1.32 percent and the platinum mining dropped 3.06 percent but the gold mining index gained 0.78 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.18 per U.S. dollar from 7.20 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was quoted at 666.85 dollars a troy ounce from 648.29 dollars at the JSE's last close.

On the all share index, 100 shares were down, 32 were unchanged and 30 were up. There were 33 decliners on the Top 40 index and only eight advancers.

Friday's losses took the all share index 3.19 percent into the red for the week. It is down 2.64 percent for July but up 14.26 percent for 2006.

Source: Xinhua