Stocks ended a touch firmer in a very thinly traded session due to public holidays in the UK and the US, with MTN in the spotlight on fresh merger talks with another Indian firm, traders said.

The JSE's broader all share index added 0.55 percent. Resources were up 1.35 percent, the platinum mining index gained 2.13 percent but the gold mining index was down 0.73 percent.

Banks were virtually unchanged (+0.02 percent) while financials picked up 0.14 percent and industrials weakened 0.49 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.69 to the dollar from 7.64 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was quoted at $927.60 a troy ounce from $927.05 at the JSE's last close.

"It was definitely very quiet today, and it was to be expected due to public holidays in the US and the UK," a Johannesburg-based trader said.

The trader added economic growth data due out on Tuesday also kept most investors on the sidelines, with some expecting "unexciting news" from the report.

Statistics South Africa will release the first quarter gross domestic product growth figures on Tuesday at 11.30am. An I-Net Bridge poll expects the quarterly growth rate of the local economy to have shrunk to 2.6 percent from 5.3 percent in fourth quarter of 2007.

Rumoured takeover target MTN Group dominated the blue chips' loser board after the local telecoms group said "exploratory" talks with India Bharti Airtel had been terminated, and in a separate statement said it was in talks with India's Reliance Communications "with regards to a potential business combination".

In reaction, shares in the MTN plunged nearly eight percent but recouped some of the losses to close down 5.69 percent to 148.07 rand.

"Reliance is little smaller than Bharti and that it makes the takeover of MTN by such a company a little bit unworkable. In the meantime the guys are taking their money off the table to let the story unfold," one trader said.

Recovering from Friday's heavy losses on the back of firmer precious metal and base metal prices, diversified miner Anglo American was up 1.92 percent or 526.95 rand and BHP Billiton added 1.84 percent to 312.74 rand.

Sasol inched up 75 cents to 496.75 rand.

Among gold miners, AngloGold Ashanti collected 1.14 percent to 307.40 rand while Gold Fields lost 2.30 percent to 106.20 rand and Harmony fell 2.43 percent to 98.01 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum gained 2.09 percent to 1,419 rand and Impala Platinum notched up 2.59 percent to 357 rand.

Among industrials, brewer SABMiller rallied 5.43 percent to 197 rand on vague reports that Belgium-headquartered brewer InBev might seek a tie up with the SABMiller, which also trades in London.

InBev is weighing a merger with SABMiller as a fallback plan should its proposed US$46-billion (R352-billion) bid for Anheuser-Busch fail, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter.

Elsewhere, consumer finance firm African Bank shed three percent to 24.92 rand. It reported earlier that its fully diluted headline earnings per share for the interim period to 31 March had increased by 10 percent to 125.0 cents per share.

It also reported an increase of 11 percent in its dividend to 105 cents per share.

Hardline retailer JD Group gave up 4.69 percent to 30.50 rand. It earlier reported that its diluted earnings per share were down 45 percent to 221.5 cents for the six months ended 29 February while diluted headline earnings per share also fell 45 percent to 220.2 cents.

The group declared a lower interim dividend of 111 cents compared with the 246 cents announced at the same time in 2007.

I-Net Bridge