Resources lead upside on JSE

Johannesburg - South African stocks edged into the black on Tuesday supported by strong resources and a firm overnight close on Wall Street.

By 09:12, the JSE all share index had collected 0.86%, with resources adding 1.42%. Gold counters were 1.12% stronger and platinum miners advanced 1.32%. Banks gained 1.10%, financials collected 0.91% and industrials edged up 0.29%.

The rand was last bid at R7.75 to the dollar from R7.79 when the JSE closed on Monday. Gold was quoted at $942.09/oz a troy ounce from $936.66/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 202/oz, from $1 182/oz at its previous close.

"We have edged up this morning, the US ended positively last night," a local equities trader said.

"Resources are picking up nicely. The rand is very strong and that might hold us back a bit. Locally, the trade balance later on today might surprise and we may see a weaker rand.

"But it looks like we may have a better day today. Commodity prices are higher and US futures are up at the moment. We will get direction from international markets and the economic data later this afternoon," she said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks climbed as a spike in energy prices drove Exxon Mobil higher and Ford gained on positive sales news, but Alcoa tumbled after an analyst downgrade.

The DJIA added 90.99 points, to 8529.38. The Nasdaq Composite index rose 5.84, to 1844.06. The S&P 500 index climbed 8.33, to 927.23.

Stocks fell last week on continued uncertainty about the economic outlook. On Monday the market seemed to get some help from so-called window dressing, or professional investors tweaking their portfolios before the end of the second quarter.

"Typically, you have people buying before the end of the quarter, so there is support [to the market] because of that," said Todd Leone, a trader at Cowen & Co. Trading is likely to be slow this week because of the long holiday weekend, he said, but investors will turn more of their focus to earnings news in the coming days.

Asian stock markets are broadly higher on Tuesday, taking their cue from gains on Wall Street with energy stocks buoyed by a continued rise in crude oil prices. In Australia, retailing stocks got help from improved profit guidance from David Jones.

Japan's Nikkei ended up 1.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng had last added 0.7%.

European stock markets look likely to open under a bit of pressure on Tuesday, as investors weigh whether recent gains will continue into the new quarter.

- I-Net Bridge