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JSE picks up, miners lead gains

Johannesburg - After a tentative start the JSE picked up pace at noon on Wednesday, with platinum miners leading the charge.

At 12:05 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.36% to 34 337.69 points, led by platinums which rallied 1.13%; bank shares lifted 0.70%, while resources added 0.66%.

Financials gained 0.16%, industrials were up 0.22% and gold miners edged up 0.20%.

The rand was firmer at 7.46 to the US dollar, from 7.52 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1 785.12 a troy ounce from $1 779.94/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 728/oz, from $1 714/oz.

"We are taking our cues from the positive global sentiment, amid hopes that the European banks will warm again up to the European Central Bank's (ECB's) second long-term refinancing operation (LTRO)," said Paul Hansen, portfolio manager at Stanlib.

European stock markets posted mild gains on Wednesday, with banking stocks leading the advance ahead of the ECB announcement, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

London's FTSE 100 index was flat at 5 924.86 at noon local time.

In December last year, the ECB announced that the LTRO programme was available to banks which wanted it in an attempt to avert a funding crunch, drive sovereign bond yields back lower and relieve a blockage in the European banking system's credit channels.

"European banks didn't need asking twice as they pounced en masse and hovered up €489bn of loans with 523 banks taking part. The equity market rally since then, as well as falling bond yields, suggests that those actions had the required effect," said Michael Hewson, a market analyst with CMC Markets.

Most Asian markets ended February with solid monthly gains as a recent pullback in oil prices and gains on Wall Street underpinned sentiment, although Japanese and Hong Kong stocks pared their early advances.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.5% and Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished flat.
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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,011.50
+1.0%
Gold
2,221.35
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent-ruolie
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
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