/ 19 April 2001

JSE FOLLOWS MARKETS, BOUNCES BACK

THE JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) followed international bourses higher across the board on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised global markets with a 50-basis-point interest rate cut. Information technology counters led the upsurge, adding more than 7.4% at the opening, as London-listed South African networking services firm Dimension Data leaped R2.90, or 8.61%, to R36.60. Shortly after the 9am opening, the benchmark JSE all-share index was up 1.68%; the industrial index added 2.34%; the financial index advanced 1.78%; the resources index ticked up 1.24%; the IT index jumped 7.42%; the all-gold index was 0.99% firmer; and the platinum index was 0.56% higher.