JSE shrugs off Dubai blues

Johannesburg - After a delayed start to trading, the JSE rebounded on Monday, brushing aside last week's negative news from Dubai.

At 10:00 the JSE all share index gained 1.18%, led by resources firming 1.27%, gold miners adding 1.06% and platinum producers collecting 0.61%.

Banks were up 1.20%, financials rose 1.02%, and industrials moved 0.80% higher.

The rand was bid at 7.34 to the dollar, from R7.46 when the JSE closed on Friday. Gold was quoted at $1 173.28 a troy ounce from $1 163.85/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 453/oz, from $1 436.50/oz the bourse's previous close.

Said a local trader: "We have opened higher, but it's not the big gains seen in the eastern markets.

"We have seen a bit of a rebound in the East this morning after a negative week last week. Our market didn't have that much of a negative week, and we might not see as big a rebound on our market as we did in the East.

Dubai, part of the oil-exporting United Arab Emirates, said on Wednesday it would ask creditors of state-owned Dubai World and Nakheel to agree to a standstill on billions of dollars of debt as a first step towards restructuring.

Dubai World, the conglomerate that led the emirate's expansion, had $59bn of liabilities as of August, most of Dubai's total debt of $80bn. Nakheel was the builder of three palm-shaped islands off Dubai.

The Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) opened late on Monday after being hit by a technical glitch.

"Due to customer connectivity issues, the JSE has delayed the opening of the Equity Market," it said in a statement.

The equity market opened at 9:50am while the warrants market opened at 09:55am.

- I-Net Bridge