Johannesburg - The JSE bolted to fresh records on the all-share‚ top-40 and industrial indices at the start of Friday’s session‚ taking the lead from buoyant global markets following the US central bank stimulus measures.
At 09:50‚ the JSE all-share index [JSE:J203] rallied 1.76% to 35 518.39 points‚ with the top-40 index [JSE:J200] up 1.97%. Resources jumped 4.05%‚ gold mining soared 4.19%‚ platinum shares lifted 3.63% and industrials garnered 0.76%.
The US Federal Reserve announced on Thursday night that it would purchase US$40bn worth of mortgage-backed securities a month. Operation Twist‚ which consists of selling short-term bonds to buy long-term ones‚ will also be continued.
“The Fed announcements set the investment case for equities‚” said Francois du Plessis‚ director at Vega Asset Management.
“Commodity prices and commodity-based stocks rallied‚ overshadowing the current local negative sentiment surrounding the mining sector.”
European and Asian benchmark indices also rallied on the Fed announcements.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American jumped 5.39% to R270.86‚ BHP Billition added 3.38% to R269.72 and Sasol climbed 3.49% to R387.88.
Impala Platinum was up 4.15% at R145.17 and Lonmin firmed 4.89% to R82.40.
AngloGold Ashanti gained 4.57% to R294.38‚ Gold Fields rose 3.97% to R105.00 and Harmony Gold Mining added 3.69% to R72.41.
Exxaro lifted 4.77% to R173.55 and Kumba Iron Ore was up 4.23% at R166.77.
* Follow Fin24 on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.