The JSE was in positive territory in noon trade on Thursday buoyed by a bounce in commodity prices. Dealers said that the bourse would have been even stronger were it not for the firmer rand.
By 11.52am, the all share index added 0,86%. Resources rallied 1,45%, the gold mining index jumped 1,68% and the platinum mining index picked up 0,98%.
Industrials and financials firmed 0,54% and 0,44% respectively, while the banks
index was 0,62% better.
The rand was bid at 7,15 per dollar from 7,20 when the JSE closed on Wednesday, while gold was quoted at $633,90 a troy ounce from $626,90/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“Commodities have bounced from an oversold sector and oversold actual base metals position. Oil is up nicely from its 20-month lows and everything in the sector is recovering,” a dealer said.
He added that both a short covering play and a value play were taking the JSE higher.
“We are getting some bottom fishers into Sasol — there is a lot of value below R230,” he commented.
“The only thing that is dampening the squib a bit is the rand,” he continued, asserting that the JSE would be about 200 points higher if the currency weakened to 7,20.
The dealer said that while the market would be watching US CPI data to be released at 3.30pm, he did not expect much reaction unless there was a major shock.
“Unless the rand goes to seve, I would imagine the market will continue to go higher given gold and oil are coming off their ridiculous lows seen recently.”
On the resources index, London-listed diversified resources group Anglo American added 1,38% or R4,51 to R332,51 and BHP Billiton climbed 1,35% or R1,70 to R127,50.
Petrochemicals group Sasol strengthened 2,01% or R4,49 to R228,39.
Coal and industrial minerals group Exxaro surged 4,18% or R2,27 to R56,57 and Kumba Iron Ore leaped 3,67% or R4 to R113.
AngloGold Ashanti advanced 2,37% or R7,78 to R335,79 and Harmony was 2,99% or R2,80 higher at R96,30.
Impala Platinum improved 1,84% or R3,50 to R194.
Among industrials, London-listed brewer SABMiller was up 1,44% or R2,49 at R174,99 after touching a record high of R175,95.
Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont climbed 16 cents to R41,11.
Mittal Steel, which reached a lifetime high of R107,50, was 3,88% or R4 to the good at R107.
Construction counters remained in vogue, with Group Five rallying 2,56% or R1,25 to an all-time high of R50. Murray & Roberts rose 1,33% or 60 cents to R45,60 and Aveng tick up 19 cents to R35,99.
Murray & Roberts and Aveng on Thursday reached new highs of R46 and R36,21 respectively.
Retailer Mr Price roared ahead 3,85% or R1,09 to a record high of R29,39. Shoprite was up 2,46% or 64 cents at R26,70.
Transport and logistics group Imperial, however, retreated 1,05% or R1,76 to R165,24.
Cellular network operator MTN Group eased 25 cents to R84,15.
On the financial front, London-listed Old Mutual firmed 1,12% or 28 cents to R25,19.
Sanlam climbed 10 cents to R19,80 and Liberty Group gained 1,21% or R1,05 to R88,05.
Standard Bank strengthened 70 cents to R101,20, FirstRand rose 14 cents to R23,64 and Nedbank notched up 89 cents to R139,84. Absa was 1,21% or R1,60 in the black at R133,60. – I-Net Bridge