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By Tuesday midday the All-share index and the Top 40 index were both about 1% stronger than at Monday's close. The intraday graphic showed a strong upward curve compared to Monday, when the market opened sharply and then gradually lost most of its gains.
By 14:00 the All-share index was already 1.21% higher at 48 635 points and the Top 40 index gained 13% to 43 374.
Most of the other major indices were also much stronger and fast approaching important resistance levels, which must be breached decisively for the market's upwards momentum to be sustainable.
The most important target is 43 600 for the Top 40 index, because on previous occasions residual selling pressure appeared when the index approached that level.
The technical analysts at Imara SP Reid said in the daily Market Snapshot that further downward potential for the market is limited and there is now enough short-term momentum to breach 43 600.
It is, however, important that a decisive breach is established to ensure enough upward momentum.
It is somewhat surprising that the JSE performed so strongly on Tuesday morning as analysts expected markets to be subdued in view of this week's important meeting by the US Federal Reserve. Wall Street did not do much on Monday night, waiting for the results of the Fed meeting.
READ: US stocks little changed ahead of Fed
Expectations are that the Federal Reserve will announce it will stop the buying of bonds, but this news is already discounted. The key question is how long the Fed expects interest rates to stay at current record low levels.
The South African market has a definite interest in the Fed's actions, as overseas investors are looking at emerging markets for higher yields than the low rates available in the developed world.
These investors are particularly interested in local shares with big market capitalisations and business interests around the world.
Of these shares Naspers [JSE:NPN] improved by 2.58% to R1 276.00 and SABMiller [JSE:SAB] gained 1.19% to R606.00. Richemont [JSE:CFR], which is trading near 52-week lows, is still under pressure and lost 1.13% to R90.44.
Imara SP Reid said the first significant short-term target for the Industrial index which needs to be breached to establish strong upward momentum is around 59 000. On Tuesday morning the index was at 58 572.
In the resources sector, Sasol [JSE:SOL] was 1.01% higher at R556.30 after dropping back on Monday afternoon on news that the company plans capital expansions of $9bn in the United States.
- Fin24
