Johannesburg - A strong surge in gold and platinum counters once again pushed the JSE higher on Monday morning as it did on Friday‚ this time to a new all-time high with Lonmin [JSE:LON] continuing its upward path after gaining 12% on Thursday after reporting stronger production numbers and extending gains on Friday.
At 9:29am‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.44% at 40‚780.31 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gaining 0.41% to 36‚366.44 points‚ with gold and platinum counters gaining 2.46% and 1.88% respectively.
On the local front the rand is consolidating‚ looking for direction‚ Rand Merchant Bank said in a morning note.
“The upside trend has been seriously dented‚ if not broken. Even with the sharp rand gains at the end of last week‚ dollar/rand at R8.84 is only where it started last week. Unless we receive another local news shock‚ our bias is to think the rand is past its worst‚” RMB said.
Global news flow remained excellent‚ the bank said.
“A lot of market participants were discouraged by the fourth quarter 2012 US GDP contraction reported last week but the payrolls report and ISM figure have more than compensated. Global equities have loved the data‚ with US markets leading the way higher to new post-crisis highs‚” the bank said.
On the local front‚ the week ahead is a fairly busy on the data release front. Attention will be on the publication of the final CPI weights early on Monday morning.
“We expect the fourth quarter 2012 labour force survey‚ scheduled for release on Tuesday to show an increase in the unemployment rate‚ on the back of the labour unrest that persisted throughout the fourth quarter‚” RMB said.