SOUTH African IT firm Siltek Limited said on Wednesday it planned to close its Australian operations following a fall in demand for IT products. ”The unalleviated downturn in demand for IT products in Australia has resulted in Siltek Australia continuing to incur losses,” the company, in which South African networking company Datatec holds a 23% stake, said in a statement. Siltek shares, which have underperformed the IT sector by almost 50% in the year to date, closed at 24 cents on Tuesday compared to a year high of 550 cents. – Reuters