Stronger European markets and a positive close on the Dow overnight helped the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) bounce into the black on Wednesday, after being oversold on Tuesday. Volumes remained light, however, with a fair portion of the buying in the market coming from futures players.
At 12.01pm, the all-share index was up 0,89%. Resources rallied 1,27% in morning trade, with the gold mining index jumping 1,8% and the platinum mining index climbing 0,97%. The all-share industrial and financial indices were 0,7% and 0,4% firmer respectively, while the banks index was flat (-0,07%).
The rand was trading at R6,88 per dollar from R6,83 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted $376,63 an ounce, little changed from the JSE’s last close.
“I think the JSE is responding to the mainly oversold situation we saw yesterday,” a dealer said. “The US surprised us by closing positive yesterday — it seems to be shrugging off all the pressure on the dollar — and European markets are up.”
He continued that most of the strength was being seen on the Top 40 index, which was hardest hit on Tuesday. In a reversal of Tuesday morning’s activity, futures players, comforted by firmer world markets, appeared to be pushing the market higher.
The dealer noted that the strength at the top end of the market had not really filtered lower — an indication that the JSE’s strength was futures-related.
On the Top 40 index, advancers outnumbered decliners by about seven to two, while the number of advancers and decliners on the all-share index was almost equal.
London-listed diversified resources groups Anglo American and BHP Billiton, which were hammered on Tuesday after being downgrade by Deutsche Bank, led the upside of the market.
Anglo advanced 1,28% or R1,69 to R133,59 and BHP Billiton was 1,44% or 70 cents better at R49,20.
Gold stocks delivered a strong showing, with AngloGold jumping 2,42% or R6 to R254. Gold Fields was up 1,46% or R1,37 at R95,35 and Harmony was 1,91% or R1,80 higher at R96.
While platinum stocks were stronger, their performance was disappointing given that the white metal touched a 23-year high of $732,50 an ounce on Wednesday, up $6 from Tuesday’s close.
Impala leapt 1,25% or R7 at R567, while AngloPlat climbed R2,20 to R265,20.
“There are worries that AngloPlat won’t meet its production forecast. One of the reasons that platinum is up is that this will result in a shortage of platinum,” the dealer explained.
Swiss-listed luxury good group Richemont was up 1,27% or 18 cents at R14,37.
Telecoms stocks roared ahead, with Telkom soaring 2,29% or 10 cents to R49,20. It earlier traded at R49,70 — its highest since its March listing.
Cellular network operator MTN Group rocketed 3,08% or 65 cents to R21,75. Its intraday best level of R22,10 was last seen in May 2001.
Financials to firm included London-listed Old Mutual, which was 1,86% or 21 cents in the black at R11,51.
VenFin, which holds a stake in cellular network operator Vodacom, was up 35 cents at R17,55.
On the JSE’s downside, services group Bidvest dipped 25 cents to R42,45.
Remgro retreated 40 cents to R59,60. — I-Net Bridge