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Johannesburg – The relatively good appetite for resource and bank counters kept the JSE in positive territory on Tuesday as the market looks set to end the month showing gains after a strong start to the year.
At 12:50pm‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was flat (0.06%) at 40 643.16 points‚ off its intraday record high. The Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index edged up 0.15% but gold and platinum indices retreated 1.27% and 1.16% respectively.
“Global equities continue to enjoy solid support. Every pullback we have had so far this year is consolidation rather correction‚” said Ryan Wibberley‚ equity dealer at Investec Asset Management.
For the month‚ the All Share index is up 3.48%‚ led by financial shares‚ up 5.10%‚ followed by industrials‚ up 3.40% but gold shares are the main laggards‚ down nearly 5%.
Elsewhere‚ the main European stock markets were mixed at noon‚ with London’s FTSE 100 flat (0.06%).
On the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) rallied 2.22% to R273.20 after the global resources firm announced earlier that capital expenditure for its Minas-Rio iron ore project was projected to increase to $8.8 billion. Wibberley said the pick-up in the share price could be attributed to the fact that an increase in the capex was not as bad as some investors had anticipated.
Platinum miner Lonmin (LON) was down 2.11% to R45.94‚ Gold Fields (GFI) lost 2.65% to R104.35 and Harmony Gold (HAR) shed 2.20% to R60.77.
