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JSE hovers in record territory

Johannesburg - The JSE could be heading for a new record close on Thursday as the All-share index strengthened considerably in morning trade.

By midday, the All-share index was 0.54% higher on 48 912 points, which is about 60 points higher than the previous record of 48 840. The Top-40 index also rose by 0.58% tot 43 901 points.

On Wednesday the All-share index was also on record levels, but the run lost momentum towards the end of the day and the index closed lower.

It has been the pattern the last few days that the index moves up sharply at the opening and then falls back or moves sideways. On Thursday morning at one stage it seemed that the index was on its way to 49 000 points, but the run lost steam and by midday, the intraday graph moved mainly sideways.

What will happen later on Thursday may be influenced by what happens on Wall Street. The Standard & Poor's-index in New York closed lower last night for the first time in six days, due to the selling of technology stocks after one or two disappointing results, but after the market closed Facebook and Apple announced strong results which may give the market a boost.

Facebook surprised by increasing its revenue by 72% through brisk sales of advertising on mobile devices. Its profit nearly tripled to $642m. Apple’s results were also much better than the markets expectations.
 
There was also local economic news for the market to digest. A lot of attention was on Anglo American’s quarterly production results. Although the production of platinum fell 39% due to the prolonged strikes at its Rustenburg mines, there were healthy rises in the production of iron ore and copper, the group’s two largest income earners.

Output of iron ore, which makes up almost half of group earnings, totalled 11.3 million tonnes in the first quarter, up 10% from the year before, when production at the Sishen mine in South Africa was curbed following a strike in late 2012.

The production of copper output rose 18% year-on-year to 202 000 tonnes, on the back of higher ore grades from the Los Bronces and Collahuasi mines in Chile.

The Anglo American [JSE:AGL] share price increased by 3.24% to R282.28, while its iron ore producer Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] traded 2.93% stronger on R385.18. Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] was 0.56% higher on R510.86.

The Resources sector gained 1.36% higher, with shares also supported by a weaker rand, which broke through R10.60/$ as emerging markets jitters resurfaced again on new tension in the Ukraine.

The results of Clicks [JSE:CLS] were also a pleasant surprise, because consumer spending is particularly constrained in the middle income segment which is the core target markets of the Clicks chain.

The group announced an increase of 10.3% in diluted earnings per share, after income rose 9.6%. The dividend was also increased by 10.54%. The share price responded and traded 1.5% higher on R63.44, which means the share price is not far off its previous high of R65.88.

The record breaking run in the share price of the other front runner in the retail sector, Pick n Pay, came to an end this morning. By midday, the share traded 20c lower at R25.30.

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Rand - Dollar
18.97
-0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.97
-0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.48
-0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.36
-0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.4%
Platinum
907.94
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.30
+1.3%
Gold
2,215.39
+0.9%
Silver
24.91
+1.1%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.9%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.9%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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