Johannesburg - The JSE Ltd
[JSE:JSE] set new closing records on the All Share
[JSE:J203]‚ Top 40 - (Tradeable)
[JSE:J200] and industrial indices‚ benefiting from the US central bank policy action to stimulate the world’s largest economy.
At 17:00‚ the JSE all-share index had rallied 1.85% to 36 550.08 points‚ with the top-40 index up 2.14%. Resources soared 5.39%‚ gold miners jumped 4.59%‚ platinum shares lifted 3.38% and industrials garnered 0.56%.
Banks bucked the trend and were down 2.13%.
The US Federal Reserve (Fed) announced another round of open-ended asset purchases on Thursday night to support a stronger economic recovery. The Fed will purchase $40bn of additional agency mortgage - backed securities per month. Operation Twist‚ which consists of selling short-term bonds to buy long-term ones‚ will also be continued.
“The Fed has surprised the market with its open-ended approach regarding stimulus measures. While it will be implemented within the framework of price stability‚ there is no time limit attached to it‚ which makes it different from the two previous QEs.” said Gerhard Lampen‚ head of Sanlam iTrade.
“It is also interesting that these measures are linked to the employment prospects. If we see the strength in the US labour market‚ then we might expect a slowdown in the US Fed intervention.”
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American
[JSE:AGL] jumped 7.78% to R277‚ BHP Billition
[JSE:BIL] added 4.66% to R273.06 and Sasol
[JSE:SOL] climbed 5.26% to R394.50.
Lonmin
[JSE:LON] firmed 4.38% to R82 and Aquarius Platinum
[JSE:AQP] rallied 17.66% to R6.53.
AngloGold Ashanti
[JSE:ANG] gained 4.38% to R293.85‚ Gold Fields
[JSE:GFI] rose 4.41% to R105.44‚ Harmony Gold Mining Company
[JSE:HAR] added 5.96% to R73.99 and African Rainbow Minerals
[JSE:ARM] soared 8.63% to R173.80.
Richemont
[JSE:CFR] climbed 3.50% to R55.37‚ while FirstRand
[JSE:FSR] lost 3.65% to R25.62.