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Johannesburg - The JSE was surprisingly strong at noon on Wednesday, with Anglo American [JSE:AGL] and BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] leading the upside as they benefited from the broad-based bargain hunting.
"I did not expect the market to gain more than 1% today. It has surprised a lot of people," said Andrew Todd, an equity derivatives trader at Imara SP Reid, adding that the market expected a flat day.
By 12:03 local time, the JSE all-share index was up 1.11%, with resources gaining 1.52%, gold counters firming 0.99% and platinum miners rising 1.33%. Industrials advanced 0.86%, financials were up 0.71% and banks rose 1.02%.
The rand was bid at 6.8970 to the dollar from 6.88 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at US$1 431.20 a troy ounce from US$1 426.05/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 736.00/oz from $1 739.00/oz before.
Todd said there was bargain hunting, which helped prop up the local market. But he warned that uncertainty over Libya and the Middle East was still lingering.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stock markets eased on Wednesday on continuing concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis and the military operation in Libya, as well as Portugal's vote on its austerity measures.
After a strong start to the week, equities were struggling to hold their gains - Wall Street finished lower on Tuesday and Asian markets lost ground on Wednesday. In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.2% at 271.33 by 09:10 GMT.
Among the national indexes, London's FTSE 100 index was 0.2% lower at 5 749.30, Frankfurt's DAX index was 0.7% weaker at 6 735.78, and Paris's CAC-40 index was down 0.2% to 3 886.49.
Concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis shifted from the stability of the reactors to the impact of the radiation release into food and water, while events this week in Libya have made it increasingly unlikely that there will be a swift normalisation of Libyan crude oil production in the near term, said Deutsche Bank.
"Markets are increasingly bracing themselves for a lengthy disruption to Libyan crude oil exports that may last potentially many months if not more than a year," added Deutsche.
Worries about the renegotiation of Ireland's rescue package, a potential debt restructuring in Greece and Wednesday's vote in the Portuguese parliament on the amended austerity package, due at about 18:00 GMT, also weighed on market sentiment.
"I did not expect the market to gain more than 1% today. It has surprised a lot of people," said Andrew Todd, an equity derivatives trader at Imara SP Reid, adding that the market expected a flat day.
By 12:03 local time, the JSE all-share index was up 1.11%, with resources gaining 1.52%, gold counters firming 0.99% and platinum miners rising 1.33%. Industrials advanced 0.86%, financials were up 0.71% and banks rose 1.02%.
The rand was bid at 6.8970 to the dollar from 6.88 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at US$1 431.20 a troy ounce from US$1 426.05/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 736.00/oz from $1 739.00/oz before.
Todd said there was bargain hunting, which helped prop up the local market. But he warned that uncertainty over Libya and the Middle East was still lingering.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stock markets eased on Wednesday on continuing concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis and the military operation in Libya, as well as Portugal's vote on its austerity measures.
After a strong start to the week, equities were struggling to hold their gains - Wall Street finished lower on Tuesday and Asian markets lost ground on Wednesday. In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.2% at 271.33 by 09:10 GMT.
Among the national indexes, London's FTSE 100 index was 0.2% lower at 5 749.30, Frankfurt's DAX index was 0.7% weaker at 6 735.78, and Paris's CAC-40 index was down 0.2% to 3 886.49.
Concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis shifted from the stability of the reactors to the impact of the radiation release into food and water, while events this week in Libya have made it increasingly unlikely that there will be a swift normalisation of Libyan crude oil production in the near term, said Deutsche Bank.
"Markets are increasingly bracing themselves for a lengthy disruption to Libyan crude oil exports that may last potentially many months if not more than a year," added Deutsche.
Worries about the renegotiation of Ireland's rescue package, a potential debt restructuring in Greece and Wednesday's vote in the Portuguese parliament on the amended austerity package, due at about 18:00 GMT, also weighed on market sentiment.
