The JSE was back in positive territory in noon trade on Thursday, lifted by a rebound in the gold price and stronger world markets. A firmer rand pared the bourse’s gains, however.
By 11.58am, the all-share index added 0,13% and the all-share industrial index inched 0,07% higher. Resources rose 0,32% and the gold-mining index jumped 2,91%. The platinum-mining index lost 0,71%, however. Financials dipped 0,07% and the banks index was 0,17% in the red.
The rand was bid at R6,16 per dollar from R6,22 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was quoted at $557,65 a troy ounce from $548,40/oz at the JSE’s last close.
A dealer said that the JSE was pretty mixed.
“It is better overall on the back of the Dow. The Nikkei was up, the Hang Seng was up and gold has recovered nicely.”
He continued that the rebound in gold, which was sold off on Tuesday night and Wednesday, had come in Asia.
“Its effect has not been felt in the [United] States yet. We might find more buying in gold shares coming through when New York comes in.
“We are seeing good demand coming through. After a couple of days’ drop, positive sentiment has surged back into the market again.”
The dealer said, however, that some of the rand hedges were not looking great due to the negative impact of the stronger currency.
On the resources index, Anglo American climbed 90 cents to R219,20 and BHP Billiton was 70 cents better at R106,20.
De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer that is 45% owned by mining giant Anglo American, said on Friday it had posted record diamond production of 49-million carats in 2005.
AngloGold Ashanti surged 4,24% or R15 to R369, Gold Fields leaped 2,6% or R3,55 to R140 and Harmony rallied 1,93% or R2,05 to R108.
Petrochemicals group Sasol, however, slumped 1,98% or R4,75 to R235.
AngloPlat was off 1,18% or six rand to R504 and Impala eased four rand to R1 010.
Pulp and paper producer Sappi featured on the upside of the all-share industrial index, soaring 3,13% or R2,50 to R82,40.
Media group Naspers notched up 1,1% or R1,40 to R128,45.
Cellular network operator MTN Group gained 32 cents to R62,95 and Telkom, which earlier traded at an all-time high of R167, was 35 cents to the good at R164,20.
Furniture group Steinhoff strengthened 1,9% or 41 cents to R22,01. It earlier traded at a highest-to-date level of R22,38.
London-listed IT group Dimension Data soared 3,25% or 17 cents to R5,40. It earlier traded at two-year high of R5,83. The dealer said the strength was a result of its Singapore-listed subsidiary Datacraft Asia being upgraded by Credit Suisse.
While cement producer PPC was R2,25 softer at R357,75, it touched a new high of R363 in opening trade.
London-listed brewer SABMiller weakened 1,06% or R1,30 to R121,11 and Swiss-listed luxury-goods group Richemont surrendered seven cents to R27,09.
Sugar and aluminium group Tongaat-Hulett dropped 4,78% or R4,49 to R89,50.
Retailer Edcon retreated 1,86% or 66 cents to R34,75.
On the financial front, Old Mutual fell 1,49% or 30 cents to R19,82.
Sanlam, however, was 1,89% or 30 cents stronger at R16,20 and Liberty Group, which reached a record high of R92,01, was up 1,81% or R1,60 to R90,10.
Standard Bank ticked up 20 cents to R79,20, but Nedbank slipped 55 cents to R107,50 and FirstRand fell five cents to R18,65.
The dealer said that Nedbank had run too hard recently and as a result some switches were taking place from it to FirstRand. — I-Net Bridge