The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was powering ahead in noon trade on Thursday, fuelled by expectations of renewed rand weakness and a higher gold price. Strength was seen across the board, with advancers outnumbering decliners on the all-share index by almost three to one. Only two shares on the Top 40 index failed to post gains.
By noon, the all-share index was up 1,21%. Resources rallied 1,79%, the gold-mining index surged 3,16% and the platinum-mining index jumped 0,88% — as did the banks index. Industrials and financials firmed 0,76% and 0,9% respectively.
The rand, which was in the high R6,40s earlier, was quoted at R6,53 per dollar from R6,52 when the JSE closed on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $406,13 an ounce from $402,55/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“Initially we saw basket buying by futures guys, but that has died off. The latest buying is a bit of pre-emption of the currency weakening this afternoon. Commodity prices are also picking up,” a dealer said.
He added that players were expecting gold stocks to be pushed higher when New York opens, due to the higher gold price, but cautioned that whether this rally materialised depended on how the market there was positioned.
“World markets are not shooting the lights out at the moment, so they are not helping that much. United States futures are pretty flat,” he commented.
In morning trade, London-listed diversified miner Anglo American advanced 1,19% or R1,75 to R149,40 and BHP Billiton bounced 1,71% or R1,05 to R62,35.
Gold Fields soared 3,56% or R2,75 to R80, Harmony rose 3,4% or R2,65 to R80,50 and AngloGold Ashanti added
2,63% or R5,80 to R226.
Petrochemicals group Sasol leaped 2,2% or R2,49 to R115,50.
Impala Platinum jumped 1,12% or R6,01 to R543 and AngloPlat climbed two rand to R287.
On the industrial market, Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont gained 1,25% or 20 cents to R16,20 and London-listed brewer SABMiller strengthened 1,02% or 80 cents to R79,40.
Services group Bidvest was 2,06% or R1,15 in the black at R56,90, while steel producer Iscor was bolstered 2,91% or R1,31 to R46,30. Iscor earlier traded at a lifetime high of R47,80.
Retailer Woolies rang up 1,16% or nine cents to R7,85 after earlier reprinting a 21,3% rise in its headline earnings per share (Heps) for the year to the end of June 2004, to 78,6 cents from 64,8 cents a year earlier.
The group declared a final cash distribution from share premium of 25,5 cents per share, for a total dividend for the year of 38,5 cents, up 32,8% from the 29 cents declared in 2003.
On the financial front, banking group Nedcor rebounded 1,45% or 75 cents to R52,40 after touching a long-term low on Wednesday. Absa added 1,45% or 75 cents to R52,40, FirstRand firmed eight cents to R9,91 and Standard Bank inched up 13 cents to R42,20.
London-listed Old Mutual was 1,62% or 19 cents stronger at R11,90 and Sanlam was five cents better at R8,55.
On the JSE’s downside, retailer Shoprite shed 1,67% or 15 cents to R8,85. Massmart eased 26 cents to R34,50.
Financial services group Glenrand MIB dived 7,25% or 25 cents to R3,20. The group advised after the close on Wednesday that although headline earnings for the year ended June 30 will be in line with those achieved in the prior comparative period, earnings for the year ended June 30 2004 will be between 55% and 75% lower than those of the prior comparative year. — I-Net Bridge