Cape Town - Investors piled into Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] shares after the gold miner said it expects profits to jump by up to 60%.
The share price rallied almost 10% after the company said in a trade update on Friday that it expected headline earnings and headline earnings per share, the main profit gauge in South Africa, could be between 40% and 60% higher than the previous year.
By 15:56 the shares were changing hands 8.13% stronger at R21.67 from its previous close and slightly lower than the intra-day high of R21.98.
The company, which will release its full-year results on 13 February 2018, attributed the expected increase to an improved operational performance recorded by the South African operations.
Harmony said earnings will be lower than the previous comparable period, due to the once-off gain on the R848m purchase of Hidden Valley which was recognised in the comparative period and excluded from headline earnings.