Gold levels see JSE firmer

Johannesburg - The JSE closed firmer on Tuesday pushed by technical buying on gold stocks, amid a gold price that reached an all-time high during the course of the day.

At 17:00 the JSE all share index had collected 1.45%, with gold miners collecting 6.72%, resources up 2.82% and platinum counters added 1.01%.

Banks moved 1.70% higher, with financials profiting 1.25%, while industrials were flat, up 0.15%.

Gold first broke through its 18-month high of US$1,024 an ounce touched in September, and then surged through its previous record high of $1 032.70 reached in March 2008.

At 16:38 the rand was bid at 7.39 to the dollar from 7.64 when the JSE closed on Monday. At 16:38 gold was quoted at $1 039.32 a troy ounce from $1 003.25/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 134/oz, from $1 275.50/oz at its previous close.

A local trader said: "Gold reached a key technical level of $1 032 which pushed gold stocks firmer, and was the primary driver of the market today. It was purely a case of technical buying."

Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks enjoyed a broad-based rally and the dollar sold off on Tuesday following an interest-rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The move marked the first tightening by a major central bank since the start of the recent global downturn, with Australia's key rate rising a quarter percentage point to 3.25%.

Some investors took that a sign that the global economy is getting back on its feet. At the same time, the move effectively reduced the supply of Australian dollars in circulation, causing other currencies, including the US greenback, to fall in relative value. That boosted the prices of commodities traded globally in US dollar terms and supported the shares of commodity-producing companies.

- I-Net Bridge