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Johannesburg - South Africa's main stock indices rose nearly 2% on Wednesday, booking their biggest one-day gain in five months, led by Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] as the price of ore held its highest level in nearly four months.
Kumba, Africa's biggest miner of iron ore, jumped 6.5% to R169.99, making it the biggest gainer on the benchmark JSE Top-40 index.
Iron ore was steady at near four-month highs on Wednesday as stocks at China's ports dropped for the eighth consecutive week, helping entrench a recent recovery in prices.
Overall, traders piled into everything from telecoms firms, banks and retailers on views that recent sharp losses might have pushed most stocks into oversold territory.
"The rally is not totally unexpected," said Ferdi Heyneke, a portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities.
"We've had quite a big sell-off in the market in recent weeks, including on quality companies with solid fundamentals."
The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index ended 1.89% higher at 46 252 and the broader All-share gained 1.72% to 51 958.
MTN [JSE:MTN] was up 3.6% to R219.29, paring losses in the past month to 12% and rival Vodacom [JSE:VOD], which is down about 14% over the past 4 weeks, added 4.94% to R133.52.
Trade was active with 188 million shares changing hands, in line with last year's daily average of 183 million.
