JSE gains momentum

Johannesburg - South African stocks gained some momentum and moved into the black by noon on Monday, resuming last week's positive trend after Friday's session of profit taking, a local trader said.

At 12:00 the JSE all share index had put on 0.92%, with resources collecting 0.53%. Gold miners edged up 0.64% and platinums gained 1.51%.

Banks firmed 1.89%, financials rose 1.78% and industrials were up 0.92%.

The rand was bid at R7.43 to the dollar from R7.36 just before the JSE closed on Friday. Gold was quoted at $1 052.65 a troy ounce from $1 050.30/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 336/oz, from $1 332/oz at its previous close.

Brent crude was at $71.04 from a close of $70.

"Markets are obviously resuming the positive trend on the back of the dollar, the Dow ended quite well on Friday and we are following through on that," the trader said.

"The dollar has weakened again and the gold price is moving back to a trend to the upside. The oil price is also above $70. We are building on the gains we have seen. We saw some profit taking on Friday, but it wasn't a lot, and we see that with the lower prices, buyers come in and push the market up.

"We are going to see how the earnings come out in the US and how that affects the market and the sentiment. So far they have been better than expected and the trend in the market is to the upside and there is appetite for risk," he said.

"Also with parts of the Dow Jones being closed today for the public holiday, we won't be getting much direction from there," he added.

- I-Net Bridge