Related Articles
Top Stories
Feb 13 2012 12:15
Miner Xstrata says it has brought forward maintenance on two furnaces to assist Eskom to save power.
Feb 13 2012 10:43
Although jobs were created, the economy is still 420 000 jobs short of the peak employment level before the 2009 global financial crisis, says Adcorp.
Feb 13 2012 07:58
Greek lawmakers have approved a new round of drastic austerity measures after a long day of street battles between police and protesters left dozens injured.
Johannesburg - The JSE opened almost 1% firmer on Wednesday as gold surged to a new high and gold mining stocks moved higher.
At 09:15 the JSE all share index was 0.93% stronger, led by a 2.19% rise in gold miners, a 1.77% jump in resources and a 1.10% advance for platinum miners.
Banks were 0.53% higher, financials added 0.52% and industrials moved up 0.21%.
The rand was bid at R7.42 to the dollar, from R7.49 when the JSE closed on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1 178.45 a troy ounce from $1 164.32/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 464.50/oz, from $1 454/oz
the bourse's previous close.
Dow Jones newswires reported that spot gold rallied sharply to a new record high of $1 178.50 a troy ounce as liquidity-driven momentum for bullion shows no sign of letting up.
Gold's record run had no obvious trigger. The euro didn't gain much strength, and stayed below key technical resistance at $1.50.
"The gold market is trading on its own right now," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney. "Whether this is the commencement of an exhaustive spike higher remains to be seen."
A local trader said the spike in the gold price was lifting gold miners, but apart from that there was little corporate news this morning.
- I-Net Bridge