Risk appetite gives JSE a boost

Johannesburg - The JSE shunned global stocks to open in positive territory on Thursday in what a local trader described as "good risk appetite" on the local bourse.

At 09:16 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.29% to 34,106.69 points, with banks leading the gains, up 0.74%, and gold miners rising 0.53%. Financials lifted 0.39%, while industrials gained 0.33%, and platinum miners were up 0.26%. Resources lifted 0.11%.

The rand was at R7.70 to the US dollar, from R7.73 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1 774.47 a troy ounce from $1 752.02/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 721/oz, unchanged from the day before from $1 716/oz.

The trader noted the market generally had a "bullish undertone".

Dow Jones Newswires reported that Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Thursday amid concerns over the health of Europe's economy and uncertainty over the implementation of Greece's debt deal, while political tensions dragged on the Australian dollar.

Concerns over the outlook for the European economy weighed on investor sentiment following underwhelming purchasing managers' index readings on Wednesday, with the eurozone's February composite PMI reading both contractionary and below consensus. The data followed a slightly improved preliminary HSBC PMI reading in China, which remained below 50 in contractionary territory.

The Nikkei rose 0.5%, the S&P/ASX was down 0.2%, the Kospi lost 0.9%, the Sensex slid 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1%.