The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed weaker on Thursday, unnerved by retailers and a surprise cabinet reshuffle by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma.

The all share was off 0.44 percent to 57,896.83 points at close of session, as the top 40 shed 0.43 percent to 51,525.52 points. The industrial index lost 0.58 percent and the financial index 0.26 percent lower. The resources index was 0.36 percent lower, despite the weaker rand.

The South Africa's rand was under pressure and it traded at R13.53 to the U.S. dollar, 1.17 percent lower than Wednesday's close of R13.39.

Market watchers are of the opinion that JSE followed global markets.

Anglo American was off 0.43 percent to 254.81. AngloGold Ashanti advanced 3.17 percent to settle at R128.45 after the gold producer sold Moab Khotsong mining operations to Harmony Gold for 300 million dollars.

Most of the big dual-listed industrial shares also lost ground. Naspers lost 0.46 percent to R3,255 and British American Tobacco lost 0.65 percent to R864.31. Anheuser-Busch InBev was 1.32 percent softer at R160.00.

Vodacom tumbled 0.77 percent to R154.7 and MTN Group 1.98 percent to R124.49. Intu Properties was off 3.09 percent to R39.88. FirstRand was up 1.79 percent to R53.95. Standard Bank lost 0.31 percent to R170.47