The JSE Securities Exchange was firmer in noon trade on Wednesday, despite a stronger rand.
Dealers said that the market was primarily order driven, with few clear trends.
By 12.07pm, the all share index added 0,24%. Resources rose 0,69%, with the gold and platinum mining indices jumping 1,34% and 1,39% respectively.
Financials dipped 0,08% and the banks index eased 0,16%, while the all share industrial index was flat.
The rand was quoted at 5,75 per dollar from 5,81 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $439,50 a troy ounce from $437,10/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market is up, even though the rand is a lot stronger,” a dealer said. “The rand is not affecting the market as much as it was expected to.”
He said that the market was order driven and it was difficult to see any trends developing.
On the upside, the bourse was being helped by offshore demand for BHP Billiton and strong corporate results released before the opening.
BHP Billiton shares were 2,07% or R1,70 better at R83,70.
The global resources group announced on Tuesday that it had made a friendly $7,3-billion bid for WMC Resources to counter the bid of rival Xstrata, which was launched in November.
Xstrata is offering WMC Resources’ shareholders Aus$7 cash per share, while BHP Billiton is offering Aus$7,85.
Gold miner Gold Fields gained 1,41% or one rand to R72, Harmony was 1,9% or 93 cents higher at R50 and AngloGold Ashanti advanced two rand to R222.
AngloPlat leaped 2,64% or R6 to R233 and Impala improved R4,50 to R489.
Petrochemicals group Sasol, however, was 1,35% or R2 softer at R146,50 after earlier trading at a lifetime high of R149,80. The dealer said that Sasol had fallen prey to profit taking after a strong rally on Tuesday.
On the industrial market, Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont retreated 11 cents to R18,92. London-listed brewer SABMiller slipped 1,1% or 40 cents to R95,45 rand and pulp and paper producer Sappi was 1,27% or one rand softer at R77,80.
Steel producer Ispat Iscor weakened 1,49% or 95 cents to R62,85.
Telecoms stocks were looking strong, with MTN group gaining 1,39% or 68 cents to R49,70 and Telkom rallying 2,1% or R2,34 to R113,85. MTN’s intraday high of 50 rand was its strongest in five years.
Food group AVI was up 1,77% or 27 cents at R15,50. Before the opening, it reported a 20% increase in headline earnings per share from 91,1 cents to 109,3 cents per share for the six months ended December.
Diluted headline earnings per share were up 19% to 108 cents from 91,1 cents.
The group declared a special distribution of 64 cents per share, which is inclusive of an interim dividend of 31 cents per share.
It said the additional 33 cents per share or R104-million was paid out in order to improve the efficiency of the group’s balance sheet.
On the financial index, health and life insurer Discovery, which earlier traded at a record high of R22, was 1,16% or 25 cents in the black at R21,75.
Investment trust VenFin, which reported good results on Monday, was up 2,54% or 89 cents at R27,89. Its intraday high of R28,10 was its strongest since September 2000.
Standard Bank, however, slipped 45 cents to R6,35. It earlier traded as high as R67 on solid results released before the opening.
Standard Bank reported a 23% increase in headline earnings per share from 463 cents to 578,7 cents for the year to the end of December. A dividend of 181 cents per share was declared, much in line with the 184 cents forecast by analysts.
FirstRand was eight cents firmer at R14,33.
London-listed financial services group Old Mutual fell 1,41% or 22 cents to R15,43.
Life assurer Metropolitan ticked up 1,35% or 15 cents to R11,30. It earlier reported a 49% rise in its core headline earnings per share for the year to end-December 2004 to 89 cents from 60 cents a year earlier. The group’s embedded value per share rose 24% to 1 325 cents from 1 068 cents (before the 100 cent capital reduction).
Metropolitan declared a final dividend of 31,5 cents per share, for a total dividend for the year of 52 cents, representing a 21% improvement on the 43 cents declared in 2003. – I-Net Bridge