OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2015. South African shares ended in the red on Tuesday after hitting an all-time high during the day when stocks in mining companies tumbled on weaker metal prices.

Shares in Africa's biggest bullion producer Anglogold Ashanti fell the most, slipping 4.54 percent to 138.30 rand as the spot price of gold fell 2.1 percent, its lowest level since Jan. 8.

Gold and silver hit a one-month low on signs that Greek banks will continue to get emergency funding despite a breakdown in debt talks between their government and euro-zone partners.

"The market edged lower after manufacturing numbers came out of the U.S. We haven't had a lot of data this week, so manufacturing numbers in the U.S will move things," said Gary Booysen, head of trading at Vunani Private Clients.

Manufacturing activity growth in New York State slipped in February, with the general business conditions index falling to 7.78 from January's reading of 9.95.

The All-share index, the broadest measure of the stock market performance, had raced to a new life high of 53,153 but ended 0.31 percent lower at 52,833.

The blue chip Top-40 index fell 0.23 percent to 46,714.

Trade was brisk, with 220 million shares exchanging hands above last year's daily average of 183 million shares, according to preliminary bourse data.