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Johannesburg - The JSE is raising the bar very high now as the All-share index strengthened another 300 points on Wednesday morning to trade at 48 405 by midday, 0.62% stronger than Tuesday night’s record close.
The stronger market followed on broadly firmer Asian markets and another record close on Wall Street on Tuesday night.
It was almost if investors could not wait to be part of the action, as the index shot up with 300 points almost immediately and drifted sideways for most of the morning.
The Top 40 index was even stronger: 0.68% higher than Tuesday at 43 616. Resources was again the main driver of the market as the index improved by 1.47% to 56 663, after being in a downward spiral towards 53 000 just more than a week ago.
Some of these gains seem a little strange, as the gold index was 2.49% higher at midday on 1 473, just a day after the gold price reached a seven-week low.
The gold price improved somewhat on Wednesday morning and at midday was 0.37% higher on $1 283.60, but the rand price of gold per kilogram improved by almost R3 000 or 0.69%.
AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) was the star performer in the gold sector, up 2.77% to R187.05. Harmony (HAR) was 1.7% higher on R32.24.
Platinum shares also continued their strong run from Tuesday, despite indications that the ten-week strike at the Rustenburg mines is beginning to have serious implications for producers.
Anglo American Platinum (AMS) traded 2.77% higher on R503.57 after improving almost 3.5% on Tuesday, on sending force majeure notices to some suppliers that it was unable to pay them, in an effort to conserve cash in the face of a crippling strike.
Impala Platinum (IMP) warned it will have to buy platinum to supply customers, but the share price improved 2.37% on Wednesday morning to R123.50.
Sentiment worldwide is however so good that local investors can be forgiven for thinking they will miss the boat if they do not participate in pushing prices even higher.
The S&P 500 index on Wall Street reached its first record close since March 7, as US stocks rallied following solid economic data and reassurance from the Federal Reserve on continued support for the recovering economy.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said investors feel more reassured about the US economy after "better" data, including a report on Tuesday from the Institute for Supply Management that showed US manufacturing activity rose in March.
Local economic news was not as good as the purchasing managers' index (PMI) declined from 51.7 to 50.3, with strike action in the platinum sector having a negative effect on orders and necessitating a drawdown of inventories.
Among the major diversified resources stocks Anglo American (AGL) strengthened 1.79% to R271.79, and BHP Billiton (BHP) was up 1.68% to R336.55. Glencore XStrata (GLN) traded 0.92% higher at R55.00.
Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (ACL) improved 3.53% to R35.20.
Diversified industrial brand management company Barloworld (BAW) climbed 1.66% to R112.95 after announcing the sale of the remainder of its Australian motor retail operations for R1.3bn on Tuesday.
- Fin24
The stronger market followed on broadly firmer Asian markets and another record close on Wall Street on Tuesday night.
It was almost if investors could not wait to be part of the action, as the index shot up with 300 points almost immediately and drifted sideways for most of the morning.
The Top 40 index was even stronger: 0.68% higher than Tuesday at 43 616. Resources was again the main driver of the market as the index improved by 1.47% to 56 663, after being in a downward spiral towards 53 000 just more than a week ago.
Some of these gains seem a little strange, as the gold index was 2.49% higher at midday on 1 473, just a day after the gold price reached a seven-week low.
The gold price improved somewhat on Wednesday morning and at midday was 0.37% higher on $1 283.60, but the rand price of gold per kilogram improved by almost R3 000 or 0.69%.
AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) was the star performer in the gold sector, up 2.77% to R187.05. Harmony (HAR) was 1.7% higher on R32.24.
Platinum shares also continued their strong run from Tuesday, despite indications that the ten-week strike at the Rustenburg mines is beginning to have serious implications for producers.
Anglo American Platinum (AMS) traded 2.77% higher on R503.57 after improving almost 3.5% on Tuesday, on sending force majeure notices to some suppliers that it was unable to pay them, in an effort to conserve cash in the face of a crippling strike.
Impala Platinum (IMP) warned it will have to buy platinum to supply customers, but the share price improved 2.37% on Wednesday morning to R123.50.
Sentiment worldwide is however so good that local investors can be forgiven for thinking they will miss the boat if they do not participate in pushing prices even higher.
The S&P 500 index on Wall Street reached its first record close since March 7, as US stocks rallied following solid economic data and reassurance from the Federal Reserve on continued support for the recovering economy.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said investors feel more reassured about the US economy after "better" data, including a report on Tuesday from the Institute for Supply Management that showed US manufacturing activity rose in March.
Local economic news was not as good as the purchasing managers' index (PMI) declined from 51.7 to 50.3, with strike action in the platinum sector having a negative effect on orders and necessitating a drawdown of inventories.
Among the major diversified resources stocks Anglo American (AGL) strengthened 1.79% to R271.79, and BHP Billiton (BHP) was up 1.68% to R336.55. Glencore XStrata (GLN) traded 0.92% higher at R55.00.
Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (ACL) improved 3.53% to R35.20.
Diversified industrial brand management company Barloworld (BAW) climbed 1.66% to R112.95 after announcing the sale of the remainder of its Australian motor retail operations for R1.3bn on Tuesday.
- Fin24
