Johannesburg – Relatively buoyant demand for industrial and mining shares lifted the JSE to a fresh record high on Thursday‚ with a weaker rand still providing impetus in addition to the upbeat China manufacturing data.
At 12:28‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.73% to 40 479.64 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gaining 0.81% to 36 029.86‚ another record.
“Rand weakness continues to dominate the theme even though the long-term picture for SA looks a bit murky against the backdrop of labour tensions‚” said Devin Shutte‚ a trader at stockbrokerage‚ Newstrading.
The rand weakened to as much as R9.0855/$ during the morning session‚ boosting most rand hedged stocks‚ before recovering slightly by midday to R9.0324.
The All Share is now up over 3% in the year to date after a few sessions of consolidation.
Elsewhere‚ leading European shares were modestly higher at noon‚ with UK’s FTSE 100 edging up 0.23%.
HSBC's preliminary Chinese purchasing managers index for January grew to a 24-month high of 51.9 from a final reading of 51.5 in December‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Among individual stocks on the JSE‚ Anglo American Platinum (AMS) lifted 1.23% to 440.22 and African Rainbow Minerals (ARI) was up 1.19% to R200.30.
Among industrial stocks‚ SABMiller (SAB) gained 1.70% to R433.65‚ Bidvest (BVT) picked up 1.59% to R217.89‚ Barloworld (BAW) garnered 2.40% to R91.39 and Richemont (CFR) was up 1.02% to R73.18.
Old Mutual (OML) gained 1.45% to R26.63.
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