/ 6 March 2007

SA stocks rise on Asia rebound, firmer gold

South African stocks gained as much as 1,9% on Tuesday after Japan’s Nikkei rebounded from five days of heavy selling and the gold price bounced off a six-week low.

The Johannesburg top-40 index of blue-chip stocks gained 1,65% to 22 787,30 points by 7.27am GMT, bouncing back from its lowest level in six weeks, which it struck on Monday.

The wider all-share index gained 1,56% to 25 307,67 points.

Mining stocks jumped as precious metal prices scrambled higher. AngloGold Ashanti gained 2,29% to R313 while Impala Platinum jumped 3,15% to R196 and Harmony Gold pushed up 2,6% to R98,50.

Investors took their cue from Asian equities, which pushed higher after a global sell-off of risky assets, sparked by a slide in the main Chinese stocks index last week.

The Nikkei rose 202,25 points to 16 844,50. The benchmark lost 8,6% in the previous five sessions. The broader Topix index gained 1,79%, or 29,83 points, to 1 692,54 — its biggest one-day percentage gain since October. – Reuters