JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's stocks closed lower on Friday, retreating in thin holiday volume from record highs set the previous day on receding Omicron fears, but still ended the year more than 21% higher.

When trading closed at 1000 GMT the Top-40 index was 0.11% weaker at 67,052 points, just 135 points away from its record high, while the Johannesburg All-Share index was down 0.1% to 73,709 points from a record high of 73,822 points.

Equities have rallied recently on thin trading volumes as investors were encouraged by growing evidence that the Omicron variant causes less severe infections of COVID-19 than the Delta strain.

On Thursday, South Africa lifted a midnight to 4 a.m. curfew on people's movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant.

The rand also weakened, trading at 15.9725 against the dollar, 0.46% down from its previous close.

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark 2030 government bond was down 8 basis points at 9.350%.