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Johannesburg - The JSE share market was stronger on Thursday
morning‚ buoyed by gold and platinum miners‚ while awaiting the outcome of the
European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting at 14:30 local time.
At 9.38pm‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.85%
at 35‚342.97 points‚ with gold miners adding 2.38% and platinums up 1.98%.
“We were very oversold yesterday and we see some buyers
coming back. The two big factors today are ECB president Mario Draghi speaking
later today‚ and also Lonmin saying that it has reached a peace accord at it
Marikana platinum mine‚ which is bullish for platinums‚” Mark Wilkes‚ a
stockbroker at Global Trader in Cape Town‚ said.
“Gold stocks began to rally late yesterday and are
continuing to rally today‚ despite a strike at Gold Fields. The gold price has
also gone through $1 700‚” Wilkes said.
At 09:38 the gold price was quoted at $1 705.08 per fine
ounce.
Absa Capital said in a morning note that the market was
eagerly awaiting the details of the ECB’s latest bond-buying programme.
“We believe most of the bond purchases will be concentrated
in the sub-three-year area of the yield curve‚ and we still argue that there is
scope for the ECB to cut the refi rate by 25 basis points at today's meeting‚”
Absa said.
“The details of the policy statement will be critical‚ but
we suspect that euro could come under some selling pressure in the wake of the
announcement because the market has been pricing in additional ECB stimulus
over the past month so we could be headed for a classic case of buying the
rumour and selling the fact‚ in this case the euro‚ ahead of Friday’s critical
US payrolls data.
“More specifically‚ we believe the rand is likely to
strengthen against the euro if the ECB manages to meet market expectations‚ and
weaken if the ECB provides more stimulus than expected and strengthen if the
ECB provides insufficient additional stimulus‚” the bank said.
Platinum counters that showed strong gains were Anglo
Platinum [JSE:AMS]‚ up 2.48% at R409.00‚ with Lonmin [JSE:LON] rallying 3.63%
to R74.30 and Impala Platinum Holdings [JSE:IMP] 1.7% higher at R127.73.
Among gold counters‚ AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] was up 2.3% to R275.35‚ Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] added 2.48% to R106.52 and Harmony Gold Mining Company [JSE:HAR] added 2.69% to R70.22.
