The JSE continued its upward march in midday trade on Thursday, as positive global sentiment filtered through to the local bourse. But the market is keeping a wary eye on the European Central Bank, which is expected to make an announcement later today.
I-NET BRIDGE
Published: 2010/12/02 01:43:31 PM
The JSE continued its upward march in midday trade on Thursday, as positive global sentiment filtered through to the local bourse. But the market is keeping a wary eye on the European Central Bank, which is expected to make an announcement later today.
Commodity prices continued to tick up as the dollar weakened, indicating that risk appetite is returning to global markets despite persistent concerns about the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, an equity derivatives dealer said.
At 12:00 local time the JSE all share index was up 0.92%, with platinum miners rising 2.23%, resources gaining 1.00% and gold miners picking up 0.79%. Financials added 0.90%, banks were up 0.75%, and industrials gained 0.89%.
The rand was bid at 6.96 to the dollar from 7.00 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at US$1,391.99 a troy ounce from US$1,385.11/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1,710/oz from $1,677.50/oz before.
"We are following from where we left off on Wednesday. The Dow broke through the 11,200 key technical level, opening more room for upside," the equity derivatives dealer said.
The market is awaiting more information about what the European Central Bank intends doing about the debt woes in the euro zone, he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks rose on Thursday, with strong economic data this week boosting confidence amid hopes that the European Central Bank may launch new policy measures to soothe concerns about the euro-zone debt crisis.
Sentiment was buoyed by Wednesday's strong US and global manufacturing data, including an improved US private-sector Automatic Data Processing jobs report and solid manufacturing figures from China, the UK and the euro-zone.
The string of strong macro data has led many to increase their estimates for global growth in 2011.
In London, the FTSE 100 was last 0.89% higher.
Asian stock markets were higher on Thursday after Wall Street's surge on Wednesday, with improved risk appetite lifting cyclical plays such as coal,
metal and mining stocks in Sydney and China. The Dow soared 2.27% overnight, while the Nasdaq jumped 2.05%.
The Nikkei ended up 1.81%, and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng finished 0.86% firmer.
On the JSE, Anglo American rose R1.81 to R320.60, BHP Billiton was R2.97 or 1.15% higher at R261.65 and Sasol gained R1.15 to R320.15.
Sasol said on Thursday its turnover for the first quarter of the 2011 financial year was slightly higher than the quarterly average achieved during the second half of the 2010 financial year.
Releasing an update, chief financial officer Christine Ramon said this is largely due to higher product prices and production improvements, particularly from the group's offshore businesses.
Among gold counters, Anglogold Ashanti picked up R2.20 to R332.10, Gold Fields was up R1.06 to R118.64, and Harmony advanced 80 cents or 1.01% to R79.96.
Randgold rallied 32 cents or 4.67% to R7.17.
Among platinum stocks, Anglo Platinum garnered R11.32 or 1.68% to R686.98, Impala Platinum collected R5.65 or 2.68% to R216.65, and Eastern Platinum gained 50 cents or 4.55% to R11.50.
Iron ore producer Kumba picked up R6.70 or 1.65% to R413.70.
Diversified miner African Rainbow climbed R4.89 or 2.53% to R197.89 and Exxaro rose R2.40 or 1.87% to R130.90.
Among industrials, Bidvest edged up R1.86 or 1.21% to R155.85, AECI added 98 cents or 1.23% to R80.50, and Barloworld increased 71 cents or 1.15% to R62.39.
Mobile phone MTN Group firmed R1.91 or 1.55% to R124.93, and rival Vodacom jumped R1.43 or 2.08% to R70.04.
Information communications technology group Datatec fell 55 cents or 1.68% to R32.20. It announced that its subsidiary Logicalis has acquired Network Infrastructure Corporation (NIC) for an undisclosed cash consideration. NIC is a Cisco Gold Partner, which focuses on the Southwest region of the United States.
In banking stocks, FirstRand garnered 42 cents or 2.07% to R20.71, but Standard Bank declined 53 cents to R102.98 after reporting that for the year ending December 2010, it expects its earnings per share, headline earnings per share (HEPS) and diluted HEPS to be between 3% and 12% lower than the same earnings figures for the year ended December 2009.
Clothing retailer Truworths climbed R1.42 or 1.93% to R75.17, and Lewis gained R1.44 or 1.88% to R78.10.
Food retailer Shoprite was up R1.38 or 1.41% at R99.60.
Black empowered coal miner Wescoal lost one cent to R1.14 after reported fully diluted headline earnings per ordinary share of 8.2 cents for the six months ended September 2010 against 3.4 cents a year earlier.
The group's revenue was up 54% to 334.3 million rand. The increased turnover, together with a margin increase to 9.9% from 8.6% and strict cost controls, resulted in a 69% increase in profit from continuing operations of 12.4 million rand.
