Johannesburg | Tuesday
SOUTH African shares bounced 2,5% higher in mid-morning trade on Tuesday, inspired by Wall Street’s overnight rebound, but traders said weaker US futures could cap further advances.
The benchmark all-share index gained 187 points to 7,568 at 0900 GMT, led by mining house Anglo American Plc.
Anglo, the bourse’s biggest share, hurdled nearly seven percent to R94 as it played catch-up to sharp gains of nine percent in London on Monday, when Johannesburg was closed for the Heritage Day holiday.
”We got a bit of a bounce back this morning. The market’s playing catch-up, but it’s hard to say where it will go from here. The US futures are looking weaker today,” said Michael Slom, a trader at Tradek Balderson.
The index of the market’s top 40 firms was up three percent at 7,051 points.
Investors headed for rand-hedge stocks, which were seen offering value at the lower levels. Rand hedges, whose earnings are in foreign currencies, were also seen benefiting from a vulnerable rand.
Key rand-hedge stock, luxury goods firm Richemont notched up 4,5% to R156,80 and South Africa’s largest bank Standard Bank rose 4,7% to R28.85. Financial services group Old Mutual climbed 6,2% to R12.95.
After falling to its lowest levels in almost five years last week, IT group Dimension Data surged 8,7% to 863 cents. But it is still some 88% below its 12-month highs of R71 last September.
Energy group Sasol was one of the big heavyweight losers, stumbling on Monday’s tumble in world oil prices.
The synthetic fuel group traded down 1,4% to R69,50 by 0900 GMT, having clawed back earlier losses of nearly seven percent as oil prices moved higher.
Gold and platinum shares took a slight knock, tracking lower metal prices.
Gold shares fell 2,9%. Spot gold traded at $287.00/8.00 an ounce, down $2 from its New York close. Platinum shares shed 0,4% as spot platinum ebbed. – Reuters