The JSE was in positive territory just after midday on Monday after Friday’s release of strong economic growth numbers in the United States boosted markets globally. With London opening an hour later as clocks were switched back from daylight saving time, volumes were fairly light however.
By 12.06pm, the all share and all share industrial indices added 1,07% and 1,3% respectively. Financials firmed 0,58% and the banks index was 1,04% better.
Resources rose 1,17% and the gold mining index gained 1,43%, but the platinum mining index weakened 1,50%.
The rand was bid at 6,69 per dollar from 6,71 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was quoted at $472,50 a troy ounce from $471,15/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“It’s a strong market,” a dealer said. “We’ve gone through a few interesting moves, particularly in platinum — Impala was at 774 [an all-time high] and went as low as 743 so we’ve had boom and bust in a couple of hours.”
He continued that overall, the market was up following Wall Street’s strong performance on Friday.
Data released by the Commerce Department showed that US economic growth picked up in the third quarter to an annualised 3,8%, surpassing a MarketWatch
forecast of 3,6%.
“Sasol is pumping nicely and Anglo and Billiton are both up. They are all being influenced by Friday’s move on Wall Street. The GDP data showed that the US economy is strong and allayed fears of decreased demand for resources,” the dealer commented.
He said that the later opening in London had made for lower volumes.
On the resources index, Anglo American advanced 1,16% or R2,25 to R197 and BHP Billiton was 1,55% or R1,51 in the black at R98,65.
Petrochemicals group Sasol strengthened 2,42% or five rand to R212.
AngloGold Ashanti added 1,51% or R3,96 to R267,01 and Gold Fields gained 1,02% or 90 cents to R89,50.
Harmony jumped 2,3% or R1,60 to R71,10. However, it earlier traded as low as R68 after it reported a headline loss of 86 cents per share for the September quarter from a restated 94 cents loss in the June quarter.
Harmony was expected to report a headline loss per share of 58 cents. Analyst forecasts ranged from a loss of 36 cents to a loss of 65 cents.
Impala Platinum was down 1,78% or R13,50 at R745 and AngloPlat slipped 1,24% or five rand to R397.
On the all share industrial index, cellular network operator MTN Group rallied 2,92% or R1,43 to R50,40. Telkom climbed 1,08% or R1,36 to R127,35.
Richemont, a Swiss-listed luxury goods group, strengthened 1,81% or 45 cents to R25,35.
Mittal Steel was bolstered 2,02% or R1,95 to R53,85 and pulp and paper producer Sappi firmed 1,8% or R1,16 to R65,50.
Brand management group Barloworld rallied 2,36% or R2,45 to R106,10.
Furniture retailer JD Group forged ahead 2,59% or R7,50 to R72 and cement producer PPC picked up 2,59% or R7,50 rand to R297,50.
On the financial index, Liberty Group gained 1,6% or R1,01 to R64,01.
FirstRand firmed 1,75% or 27 cents to R15,72, Nedbank notched up 1,41% or R1,19 to R85,60 and Absa added 1,14% or one rand to R89.
Standard Bank was 50 cents higher at R69,50.
While RMB Holdings slumped 4,2% or R1,05 to R23,95, this was not unexpected as it went ex-dividend of R23,95 per share. – I-Net Bridge