Johannesburg — The JSE closed the Tuesday session at an all-time high‚ in line with positive global sentiment and a 1.15% rise in the resources index.
At 17:00‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.47% at 38 535.97 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gaining 0.49% to 34 240.74 points.
Gold shares led the downside giving up 1.01%‚ while financials added 0.76%.
“A lot of players are seeing resources as attractive again‚ and want to get in at these levels. It was a fairly quiet day on the JSE today leading up to the Christmas season‚” said Martin Strauss‚ equity dealer at PSG Konsult.
Leading European markets were in positive territory late on Tuesday with US budget talks remaining the key focus of investor attention.
At 16:21 local time the UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.15% and The Dow Jones Industrial index had gained 0.47%.
US stocks were broadly higher in early trading on reports of progress in budget talks and a strong reading on German investor sentiment‚ putting the Dow on pace for its fifth-straight daily gain.
“Talks of timid progress in the US fiscal cliff negotiations helped investor sentiment in the US session overnight and in Asia today‚ despite weaker-than-expected China new loans in November‚” Barclays Bank said in its global note. “Global economic data remain mixed. German ZEW investor confidence jumped to a seven month high‚ from -15.7 in November‚ to +6.9‚ well above consensus‚” it said.