Soaring gold miners and firm resources ushered the JSE into strongly positive territory by noon on Monday.
The local bourse continued to take upward cues from the over 6% climb on Wall Street on Friday as well as subsequent rallies in European markets.
By 11.54am the all-share index had added 3,27%, led by a 12,68% rise in gold miners, a 6,70% gain in resources and a 2,16% increase in platinum stocks.
Banks added 1,44%, financials edged up 0,27% and industrials firmed 1,50%.
The rand was last bid at 10,30 to the dollar from 10,53 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was last quoted at $808,82 a troy ounce from $776,70/oz at the JSE’s last close.
The platinum price was at $836,50/oz, up 3,08% from its previous close of $811,50/oz and Brent crude was at $49,02 per barrel from its previous close of $49,19.
“We are up on the back of gold and resource stocks, which are climbing in a continuation of Friday’s gains,” a local trader said.
“European markets are also holding up on the back of strong gains in the Dow on Friday,” he said.
The trader said it is still difficult to say whether markets will hold on to gains, noting that whatever happens in the US is likely to dictate future movement locally.
He also said that locally, market participants are waiting in anticipation for the CPI and PPI figures later this week in the hope that they could signal chances of an interest rate cut before the end of the
year.
On the JSE, resources giant Anglo American added R13, or 7,28%, to R191,50 and BHP Billiton put on R9,53, or 7,59%, to R135,03.
Paper and packaging group Sappi was down R1,25, or 3,40%, to R35,50 and Mondi lost R3,56, or 11,30%, to R27,94.
Petrochemical group Sasol gained R4,98, or 2,24%, to R226,98.
ArcelorMittal added R1,41, or 2,23%, to R64,50 and Kumba Iron Ore firmed R1,50, or 1,07%, to R141,50.
Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti jumped R19,55, or 10,58%, to R204,30, Gold Fields gained R10,74, or 16,72%, to R74,99 and Harmony firmed R8,21, or 12,35%, to R74,71.
Platinum miner Anglo Platinum leaped R20,25, or 5,15%, to R413,50, Impala Platinum was up R1,38, or 1,41%, to R99,38 and Lonmin was up R6,77, or 5,55%, to R128,77.
In diversified miners African Rainbow was up R2, or 2,44%, to R84 and Exxaro firmed R1,35, or 2,37%, to R58,35.
Elsewhere on the JSE, brewer SABMiller weakened R1,89, or 1,27%, to R146,61, Tiger Brands collected R3,33, or 2,62%, to R130,30, Barloworld added R1,77, or 4,35%, to R42,50 and Remgro was up R2,22, or 3,10%, to R73,72.
Among bankers Nedbank rose R1,70, or 1,97%, to R88,20, Absa was up R1,51, or 1,61%, to R95,51 and FirstRand edged up 30 cents, or 2,19%, to R14.
Financial services group Old Mutual lost 24 cents, or 3,04%, to R7,65 and Sanlam was off 30 cents, or 1,83%, to R16,10.
African Bank was up 99 cents, or 4,56%, to R22,71. The micro lender earlier reported a 21% decline in headline earnings per share (HEPS) after a BEE charge. HEPS before the BEE charge declined by 6% to 252,1 cents.
Retailer Woolies gained 35 cents, or 3,24%, to R11,15 and Foschini was up R1,10, or 2,68%, to R42,10.
Construction group Aveng added R1,74, or 6,68%, to R27,80, Murray & Roberts collected R3,50, or 8,97%, to R42,50, Pretoria Portland was up R1,01, or 3,56%, to R29,41 and WBHOVCO added R5, or 5,71%, to R92,50.
Telecommunication group MTN Group rose R4,97, or 5,18%, to R100,97 and Telkom gained R2,01, or 2,05%, to R100,01.
Netcare firmed 14 cents, or 2,03%, to R7,05. The healthcare group group earlier reported diluted headline earnings per share of 60,5 cents for the year to September down 18% from the previous year’s 73,8 cents. Group revenue from continuing operations was up 17% to R21,7-billion, while operating profit was 13% higher at R3,37-billion.