South African stocks were little changed at noon on Tuesday in a thin-volume session, as some traders remained on the sidelines ahead of Wall Street opening.

At midday the all share index was neither here nor there (-0.06 percent) at 31754.380. Resources were up 0.50 percent but the gold and platinum mining indices were down 0.16 percent and 1.63 percent respectively. Industrials fell 0.27 percent, financials shed 1.05 percent and banks weakened one percent.

The rand was bid at 7.67 to the dollar from 7.74 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $918.90 a troy ounce from $918.33 at the JSE's last close.

"We should pick up in the afternoon after the Dow opens because the Europe is not doing much either," one trader said, adding that investors were awaiting the world's largest fast food chain McDonalds' results.

"It a big week for both international and local markets in terms of data and corporate earnings. So the guys are don't want expose themselves too much," the trader said.

Locally, Stats SA releases CPIX and PPI inflation data on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, and several blue chip stocks such as BHP Billiton and Lonmin are releasing quarterly production reports, while MTN Group is releasing subscriber numbers.

I-Net Bridge