South African stocks remained positive by noon on Friday, still firmly supported by sharply higher resource stocks as well as rallies in precious metals.
The JSE was also still directed upwards by firmer global markets, which rose in the wake of an overnight spike on Wall Street.
By 11:55am, the JSE’s all-share index had added 2,78%, held up by platinum miners collecting 7,30%, resources gaining 4,63% and gold stocks adding 4,48%. Banks rose 2,33%, financials were 2,08% firmer and industrials added 1,47%.
The rand was last bid at 10,16 to the dollar from 10,40 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was last quoted at $727,62 a troy ounce from $717,95/oz at the JSE’s last close.
The platinum price was at $842,50/oz from its previous close of $82,.50/oz and Brent crude was at $55,32 from $56,24 before.
“We are still taking our cue from stronger world markets,” a trader said.
“Also resources, gold and platinum stocks are also up quite nicely,” he said.
“The rand has firmed as well, which indicates that there are probably some foreign buyers of the rand and local stocks,” he pointed out.
“It’s nice to see some green for a change, but the big question is whether these gains will hold ahead of the weekend and into next week,” he added.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the FTSE 100 is firmly in positive territory with only a couple of stocks in the red, as the index mirrors strong gains in the United States overnight. The FTSE 100 was up 3,38%.
On the JSE, Anglo American firmed R12,50, or 6,41%, to R207,50 and BHP Billiton gained R5,21, or 3,71%, to R145,60.
Sasol was up R5,10, or 2,01%, to R258,60.
ArcelorMittal collected R3,50, or 4,93%, to R74,50 and Kumba Iron Ore was up R6,76, or 4,83%, to R146,76.
Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti was up R5,61, or 3,30%, to R175,45, Goldfields gained R3,50, or 5,93%, to R62,50 and Harmony collected R3,42, or 5,47%, to R65,92.
Among platinum miners, Anglo Platinum jumped R24,45, or 5,90%, to R438,95 and Impala Platinum firmed R10,25, or 9,45%, to R118,75.
Among other miners, African Rainbow rose R3,29, or 3,93%, to R87,01, Exxaro was up R3,61, or 5,69%, to R67,11 and Hulamin put on 62 cents, or 3,84%, to R16,75.
In the industrial sector, brewer SABMiller firmed R4,65, or 3,23%, to R148,50, Imperial added R1,85, or 3,84%, to R50, Barloworld was up R1,50, or 3,13%, to R49,50 and Bidvest added R3,30, or 3,57%, to R95,80.
Among banks Standard Bank put on R1,80, or 2,42%, to R76,31, Nedbank added R1,31, or 1,53%, to R86,91, Absa rose R1,93, or 2,10%, to R93,93 and FirstRand edged up 30 cents, or 2,18%, to R14,05.
Financial services group Old Mutual was up 28 cents, or 3,41%, to R8,48 and Sanlam rose 70 cents, or 4,43%, to R16,50.
Among construction groups Murray & Roberts was up 85 cents, or 1,73%, to R49,85 and Group Five added R1,08, or 3,50%, to R31,93.
However, Aveng lost 70 cents, or 2,21%, to R31.
Telecommunications group MTN Group was flat (up seven cents) at R108,57 and Telkom firmed R1,49, or 1,39%, to R108,99. — I-Net Bridge