Johannesburg‚ August 6 (I-Net Bridge) - The JSE closed at a fresh all-time high on Monday‚ with gold miners leading the upside on the back of a stronger gold price.
“Gold counters were higher due to firmer bullion prices — up US$7 to $1611‚ and due to some buyer interest‚” said Mark Wilkes‚ trader at stockbrokerage Global Trader.
“It was a fairly quiet day‚ with Richemont dominating. There was steady interest in the market with the US opening up‚ which supported sentiment locally‚” he added.
The JSE all-share index closed up 0.64% to 35‚469‚18 points‚ with the top-40 index up 0.68% and the gold index gaining 1.33%.
The JSE tracked gains in most international markets after the release of US payrolls data on Friday was strong enough to give markets some cheer. Some market participants reweighed expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) would step in to buy eurozone government bonds in time to address the region's long-running debt crisis. However‚ Germany’s central bank reaffirmed its opposition to the European Central Bank purchasing government bonds on the secondary market. "Our stance on bond purchases has not changed‚" a bank spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.
US stocks moved higher at the opening on Monday‚ in tandem with extended gains in overseas markets fuelled by optimism about ECB’s President Mario Draghi's plan to address the sovereign debt.
At 16:51 local time the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 13‚174 points.
Meanwhile European markets were stronger after talks between Greece and international lenders were deemed productive. Greece will resume talks with the troika in early September on EUR11.5 billion of cuts.
At16:51 local time‚ the FTSE 100 was up 0.73% at 5‚829 points.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the ECB planned to detail proposals for a eurozone banking supervisor — seen by backers as key to stemming the eurozone sovereign-debt crisis — by September 11‚ a European Union official said on Monday. EU leaders decided to establish a supervisor at a Brussels summit in late June‚ part of measures to contain the crisis that has seen Greece‚ Ireland‚ Portugal and more recently Cyprus and Spain seek bailouts to finance their economy or banking systems by international lenders.
Among local top movers‚ Richemont (CFR) jumped R2.98‚ or 6.35%‚ to R49.90‚ and AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) gained R4.26‚ or 1.54% to R281.76‚ after the gold producer reported adjusted headline earnings per share of 65 US cents for the quarter ended June‚ from 111 cents in the March quarter and compared with 89 cents for the corresponding period last year.
Goldfields (GFI) was up R1.88‚ or 1.73%‚ to R110.50‚ while Gold One International shed 14 cents or 3.47%‚ to R3.90.
Among other miners that made gains were Anglo American (AGL)‚ up R2.80‚ or 1.15%‚ to R246.00; Lonmin (LON) added R1.96‚ or 2.14%‚ to R 93.74 and Coal of Africa (CZA) regained a further 12 cents or 3.56%‚ to R3.49.
