Johannesburg - The JSE was higher at
noon on Wednesday‚ on the back of a weaker rand and a continued
recent run in the resources sector.
“We have been seeing a rebound in the
resources sector the last two days‚ after resources have been
struggling for a long time. We are seeing some bargain hunting at
these levels. Anglo American‚ BHP Billiton‚ Kumba and Exxaro are
keeping the market at record highs‚” said Hennie Fourie‚
stockbroker at PSG Konsult‚ in Pretoria.
“Resources are higher even with the
bad results from Rio Tinto‚ as the bad news appears to have already
been priced into resource counters‚” he added.
“World markets are running on
speculation that further monetary stimulus will come out of the US
and Europe. All eyes are on Europe‚ with speculation that the
European Central Bank might buy Spanish and Italian bonds‚ and that
will be a boost for world markets‚” he said.
At 12.33pm on Wednesday the JSE Limited
[JSE:JSE] all-share index was up 0.52% at 35‚670.96 points‚ with
the resources sector adding 1.23%.
Global miner Rio Tinto announced on
Wednesday it had recorded a 34% drop in underlying earnings to $5.2
bn for the first half of the year. It attributed the drop to lower
iron ore prices.
At 12.18pm local time the FTSE 100 was
0.55% lower‚ but off the day’s worse levels‚ with much of the
early weakness due to heavyweight stocks such as BP and Shell going
ex-dividend.
Meanwhile Hong Kong shares ended flat
on Wednesday‚ taking a breather after its recent gains. Analysts
said they expected the market to rally further amid improving
sentiment due to worries about Europe abating slightly‚ Dow Jones
Newswires reported. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.75%.
Among local top movers‚ Anglo
American Limited [JSE:AGL] gained R5.51‚ or 2.18%‚ to R258.84 and
BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] added R2.58‚ or 1.03%‚ to R252.62.
Exxaro Resources Limited [JSE:EXX] was
up R2.53‚ or 1.45%‚ to R177.20
Amongst gold counters‚ Gold Fields
Limited [JSE:GFI] gained R1.65‚ or 1.52%‚ to R110.14 and Harmony
Gold Mining Company Limited [JSE:HAR] added R1.23‚ or 1.54%‚ to
R81.26.
Aquarius Platinum Limited [JSE:AQP] was
down 19 cents‚ or 3.97%‚ after the platinum producer posted a
headline loss per share of 32.88 US cents in the year to June 2012‚
from the previous comparable period.
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