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Johannesburg - South African stocks ended higher on Tuesday, extending gains for the third day after the US Federal Reserve signalled it would continue to support the world’s largest economy with loose monetary policy.
But the benchmark and the broader indexes gave up some gains after data showed US consumer confidence dipped in March.
“The momentum has stalled a bit after US confidence data came out,” said Henre Herselman, a trader at BoE Stockbrokers.
Investors have been reluctant to make large moves ahead of a domestic interest rate decision on Thursday, which most economists expecting the South African Reserve Bank to keep the number on hold at 5.5%.
Market players will be watching if the central bank takes a hawkish stand on inflation, which breached its 3-6% target in November and has been above the band since then.
The JSE Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index added 0.54% to 29 957.44 and the broader All Share [JSE:J203] index gained 0.58% to 33 858.22.
Banks were among the top gainers, continuing to bounce back from three-week low suffered in recent sessions. Absa, which runs the biggest retail bank, was up 2.03 at R158.10. Rivals FirstRand and Standard Bank added 1.98% and 1.27%, respectively.
Elsewhere, Remgro, an investment firm with a stake in FirstRand, was up 3.54% to R134.70 and retailer Woolworths climbed 3.42% to R47.43.
On the downside, Anglo American lost 1.04% to R293.95 and SABMiller slid 1% to R313.60.
Advancers outnumbered decliners 191 to 90 with 68 shares unchanged. A total of 183 million shares changed hands, preliminary data showed, below a 200-day moving average of about 240 million shares.
But the benchmark and the broader indexes gave up some gains after data showed US consumer confidence dipped in March.
“The momentum has stalled a bit after US confidence data came out,” said Henre Herselman, a trader at BoE Stockbrokers.
Investors have been reluctant to make large moves ahead of a domestic interest rate decision on Thursday, which most economists expecting the South African Reserve Bank to keep the number on hold at 5.5%.
Market players will be watching if the central bank takes a hawkish stand on inflation, which breached its 3-6% target in November and has been above the band since then.
The JSE Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index added 0.54% to 29 957.44 and the broader All Share [JSE:J203] index gained 0.58% to 33 858.22.
Banks were among the top gainers, continuing to bounce back from three-week low suffered in recent sessions. Absa, which runs the biggest retail bank, was up 2.03 at R158.10. Rivals FirstRand and Standard Bank added 1.98% and 1.27%, respectively.
Elsewhere, Remgro, an investment firm with a stake in FirstRand, was up 3.54% to R134.70 and retailer Woolworths climbed 3.42% to R47.43.
On the downside, Anglo American lost 1.04% to R293.95 and SABMiller slid 1% to R313.60.
Advancers outnumbered decliners 191 to 90 with 68 shares unchanged. A total of 183 million shares changed hands, preliminary data showed, below a 200-day moving average of about 240 million shares.
