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All the major indices were sharply higher shortly after the opening, but then moved sideways for the rest of the morning.
By midday the All-share index was 1.47% stronger at 49 564 points after it reached a high of 49 659 points shortly after the opening. The Top 40 index was 1.64% higher at 44 102, with most of the double-listed shares higher on the back of gains by their overseas counterparts.
By midday the Dax index in Germany was 2.25% stronger and the CAC 40 index in France was 1.94% up on the back of expectations of further quantitative easing by the European Central Bank to stimulate the economy.
The rand also strengthened on Tuesday morning to R13.82 to the dollar, boosting financial shares which are highly sensitive to a weaker rand.
READ: Rand recovers but still vulnerable
The Financial index gained 1.52% and the Industrial index was 2.39% stronger. The volatile Resources index traded 2.39% higher at midday.
The marginal improvement in market tone in the early portion of Tuesday's session was expected, but technical analysts at Imara SP Reid warned that additional selling pressure could materialise if the tone on US futures does not improve.
The Top 40 index continues to trade below 65- and 200-day moving averages, which are exhibiting a generally lethargic tone with a bias to the downside.
The markets are clearly not out of the doldrums as a slump in China's imports raised concerns of a more severe slowdown in the world's second-largest economy which has been rattling global markets.
China's imports in August were 13.9% lower than a year ago, reflecting both lower global commodity prices and persistently sluggish demand.
"We are surprised that the market has not focused on the much-worse-than-expected 13.8% year-on-year decline in imports," John Cairns, a currency strategist at Rand Merchant Bank, said in a note.
Steinhoff [JSE:SHF] briefly set a new intraday high of R80.34 on Tuesday and was still 2.5% higher at R79.80. The company will move its primary listing to Frankfurt in December, with a secondary listing on the JSE.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] gained a solid 3.15% to R1 687.10 and SABMiller [JSE:SAB] was 1.67% stronger at R638.18.
In the resources sector Glencore [JSE:GLN] continued its recovery for the second day and gained 2.46% to R27.89, after losing more than 30% of its value over the past 30 days.
In the financial sector Sanlam [JSE:SLM], which reached a new 52-week low of R57.06 earlier this week, recovered on Tuesday and traded 1.95% stronger at R57.06. Old Mutual [JSE:OML] traded 2.33% higher at R40.33.
Among the banks, FirstRand [JSE:FSR] traded 1.61% stronger at R51.01 and Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] gained 1.67% to R141.02. Both shares have lost more than 5% over the past seven days.
