The JSE retained its strong tone at midday on Wednesday, boosted by firmer performances on overseas markets while Kumba Iron Ore soared following the upgrade of its target price by Merrill Lynch.
At 12.01pm, the all-share index was up 0,50%. Resources gained 0,77%, the platinum-mining index climbed 2,11%, but the gold-mining index gave up 0,37%.
Industrials inched up 0,13%, while financials added 0,66% and banks were 1,24% in the black.
The rand was bid at 7,03 per dollar, unchanged from when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $672,75 a troy ounce from $679,40/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The United States equity markets had a good session last night, and we are taking our lead from there,” a Johannesburg-based dealer said.
He added that moderate gains on the European markets added to the positive tone on the local bourse.
Among the bourse’s biggest climbers was Kumba Iron Ore after a brokerage house upgraded its target price, the dealer said.
Shares at Kumba soared 7,46%, or R11,50, to a fresh trading high of R165,60.
Merrill Lynch said earlier that it has upgraded Kumba Iron Ore’s target price to R205/sh price — a massive 38% above the company’s current share price. This was after Merrill Lynch substantially upgraded its near-, medium- and long-term iron-ore prices.
Also putting up a sparkling performance was junior platinum miner WeSizwe Platinum after the bourse’s operator, JSE Ltd, announced that it would join the mid-cap index.
WeSizwe shares were up 3,60%, or 45 cents, to R12,95.
WeSizwe will be replacing construction group Murray & Roberts, which joins the blue chip Top 40 index in place of the soon-to-be-delisted Edcon.
Murray & Roberts fell 19 cents to R60,66.
Gold producer DRD Gold surged 10,11%, or 57 cents, to R6,15 in what dealers said was a renewed interest in the stock after it said it would explore uranium mining options.
Resources group African Rainbow Minerals rose 5,04%, or R6, to R125 after being oversold last week and on Monday, according to dealers.
Elsewhere, insurance group Sanlam missed out on the rally after brokers downgraded their recommendation to “underweight”, dealers said.
Its share price was off 2,73%, or 65 cents, to R23,15.
Barnard Jacobs Mellet said in a research note: “Considering the current valuation, the expected Santam black economic empowerment transaction dilution and the expected difficulty [and additional cost] of reducing excess capital levels, we find it difficult to recommend a holding in the counter at the current time and therefore downgrade our recommendation to ‘underweight’.”
Among platinum counters, Lonmin gained 4,70%, or R22,01, to R490 despite releasing poor interim results.
It reported a loss attributable to shareholders of 2 US cents per share for the six months ended March, compared with earnings of 47,1 cents a year ago after what the company described as a “difficult operational first half”.
Underlying earnings per share, being earnings excluding special items, amounted to 81,5 cents per share, a decline of 28,8 cents from the comparable period.
Anglo Platinum was up 2,33%, or R26,64, to R1 171,65 and Impala Platinum was 1,88%, or R4,33, stronger at R234,33.
Offshore-listed resources giants also rose. Anglo American edged up R1,70 to R378,67 and BHP Billiton inched up 80 cents to R159,80.
London-listed property stock Liberty International, which released its quarter results on Wednesday, was up 2,22%, or R3,80, to R174,80.
Liberty reported adjusted earnings per share of 9,8 pence for the quarter ended March — up 56% from the 6,4 pence reported for the same quarter in 2006.
Net rental income was up 14% at £91-million for the quarter, while attributable profit amounted to £273-million pound. — I-Net Bridge