/ 16 May 2008

Resources boost JSE to new high

South African stocks hit another fresh high on Friday morning, boosted by strong gains for resources.

At 11.56am, the all-share index was up 0,82%, boosted by a 1,48% rise in resources and a 2,06% gain for the platinum-mining index. Banks were up 0,37% and financials were 0,61% better. Industrial were flat (-0,03%) and the gold-mining index eased 0,80%.

The rand was bid at 7,52 to the dollar from 7,58 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was quoted at $884,93 a troy ounce from $882,05/oz at the JSE’s last close.

“The market is very strong, with the all-share running hard. It’s basically on the back of the strong Dow Jones last night [Thursday] and the FTSE is also up nicely this morning,” said a local rand trader.

He added that it is “still a resources story”, with the likes of Anglo and Billiton very strong on the back of potential corporate action. He added, however, there was some buying spilling over into certain other shares.

Wall Street closed firmer on Thursday as United States stocks rose and two of the broad indices closed at their highest levels since the second trading day of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94,28 points, or 0,73%, and came within a half a point of 13 000 in intraday trade. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1,06% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1,48%. Both those indices recorded their highest closes since January 3, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

In London the FTSE100 was last up 1,44%. US stock futures advanced on Friday even as a bullish Goldman Sachs forecast helped lift oil prices. S&P 500 futures rose 3,3 points to 1 427,90 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 4,25 points to 2 040. Dow industrial futures rose 25 points, Dow Jones Newswires said.

Among resources, BHP Billiton was up 582 cents, or 1,85%, to R320,82, a new record high, while Anglo American was up R11,79, or 2,3%, to R524,79.

Synthetic fuels producer Sasol added 10 cents to R490.

Among gold counters, AngloGold Ashanti was down 181 cents to R296,51 and Gold Fields slipped 50 cents to R104,50.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum added R27, or 2%, to R1 370 and Impala Platinum moved up 702 cents, or 2,08%, to R345.

The trader said industrials were consolidating on Friday.

SABMiller was down 110 cents to R184,40 after a good run on Thursday on strong results, while Barloworld was up 34 cents at R107,34, also after good results earlier in the week.

Among financials and banks, Old Mutual collected five cents to R18,10, Standard Bank collected 90 cents, or 1,04%, to R87,50, but Absa was 60 cents softer at R91,60.

Investec plc was up 218 cents, or 3,94%, to R57,50, while Investec Ltd advanced 235 cents, or 4,19%, to R58,50. The trader said the shares were attracting buying after the group’s results on Thursday as the company appeared to give the market some assurance that the worst of the subprime crisis seems to be behind us. The share had previously reflected some negativity associated with that.

MTN was up 48 cents to R153,88 as the counter continued to be buoyed by talk of potential corporate action. “MTN is still in play, but there is no concrete news, just talk,” said the trader. — I-Net Bridge