South African stocks fell further away from their breakeven level for 2011, edging down 0.4 percent on Thursday as miners such as Impala Platinum were hit by a sell-off in precious metals.

Trade was thin on the last full session of the year, with market players predicting a lacklustre start to 2012 due to nagging concerns about the euro zone debt crisis and slack global growth.

Johannesburg trade will finish at 1000 GMT in a shortened session on Friday.

"We're stuck in a situation now where we've got equities that are not expensive ... but on the other hand, you've got growth that really looks like it's battling to do anything," said Garth Mackenzie of market consultancy Traders Corner.

The benchmark Top-40 index gave up 0.4 percent to close at 28,486.53, further edging away from last year's finish of 28,639.40.

If the index closes down on Friday it will book its first annual decline in three years.

The broader All-share index gave up 0.3 percent to 31,995.87.

South African stocks have been hit by net selling by foreign investors this year. In 2011, foreigners 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 an annual basis since 2008.

Miners were some of the biggest decliners among the Top-40, hit by lower precious metals prices.

AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa's top producer of gold, fell 1.6 percent to 337.99 rand.

Gold dropped to its lowest in almost six months on Thursday, as investors continued to push into the dollar, which has trumped gold in recent months as a favoured safe-haven asset.

Platinum followed suit, dropping more than 2 percent.

That hit shares of miner Impala Platinum, which dropped 0.9 percent to 165.49 rand.

Among gainers, the Johannesburg-listed shares of Old Mutual Plc continued to gain, adding 0.7 percent to 17.15 rand. Shares of the insurer have risen 17 percent this month, helped by news of the $3.2 billion sale of its Nordic unit.

Trade was thin, with preliminary exchange data showing only 131 million shares changing hands, well below the 200-day moving average of 245 million shares.