SARAH BULLEN and Reuters, Cape Town | Wednesday 5.10pm
A STRONG showing by gold shares pushed the Johannesburg Stock Exchange into its week’s strongest gains as the gold price gained over $1 an ounce from its morning fix.
By close of trade the all share index had gained 1,24% on a significant 4,37% leap in the all gold index which broke breaking the 900 level for the first time in four weeks to close at 913. This came after the gold price gained over $1 an ounce to $257,25.
The leap in the long suffering all gold index came despite a strong showing by the rand, which fought back against the dollar to reclaim its R6,16 spot. The rand also made firm inroads against the pound, breaking through the R10 to the pound level to trade at R9,99 at 4.30pm.
All indices ended the day on a high note with the financial index up 0,30% and the industrial index up 0,64%. The heavyweight Alsi40 index outperformed the broader market, gaining 1,62% as a run of announcements from heavyweight companies after a few slow months of corporate activity boosted specific shares.
Shares in New Africa Investments Ltd (Nail) drifted lower in thin volume, a day after the black empowerment group announced a major restructuring which will include it splitting into two separate arms — one to house its financial services interests and the other to hold media.
On international markets, European bourses were all trading in negative territory as they moved into the late afternoon. Asian markets ended mixed with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index up 0,87% while Tokyo’s Nikkei Dow lost 1,58%. United States stock markets’ early enthusiasm evaporated in minutes on Wednesday morning, leaving the broader market unchanged.