Stocks were lower at midday on Tuesday, pressured by below-forecasts growth rate data which showed that the quarterly economic growth rate slowed to 2.1 percent, traders said.

At 12.02pm, the all share index was down 0.71 percent. Resources fell 1.01 percent, while the gold and platinum mining indices were off 0.42 percent and 0.72 percent respectively.

Banks gave up 0.86 percent, financials slipped 0.50 percent and industrials weakened 0.31 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.73 to the US dollar from 7.69 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $923.05 a troy ounce from $927.60 at the JSE's last close.

"The GDP data is a shocker and it will place more pressure on banks and financials ahead of inflation data later this week," said Hennie Fourie, a trader at Cape Town-based PSG Konsult.

South Africa's real gross domestic product at market prices on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis rose by 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2008 from 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.

This is the lowest growth since the third quarter of 2001, when the seasonally adjusted real GDP was 1.1 percent, and it is below the 2.6 percent growth rate the market had expected.

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