Johannesburg - Mining stocks powered the JSE to within a whisker of a record high on Thursday amid renewed global risk appetite.
At 12:36‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 1.01% to 37 817.38 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gaining 1.09% to 33 587.97. Gold and resource stocks rallied 5.07% and 2.20%‚ respectively.
“The rally is heavily weighed towards mining houses due to strong commodity prices but also boosted by Gold Fields’s announcement‚” said Mark Wilkes‚ trader at GT247.com.
Leading European markets were similarly higher at noon‚ with UK’s FTSE 100 climbing 0.89% amid revived hopes that the US political authorities will find a deal to stave off the looming fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax hikes‚ due to kick in in January.
“It is a reverse in global sentiment after equities sold off on Wednesday on fear about the US fiscal cliff‚” Sasfin Securities director David Shapiro said.