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Weak rand pushes JSE to record high

Johannesburg – Relatively buoyant demand for industrial and mining shares lifted the JSE to a fresh record high on Thursday‚ with a weaker rand still providing impetus in addition to the upbeat China manufacturing data.

At 12:28‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.73% to 40 479.64 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index gaining 0.81% to 36 029.86‚ another record.

“Rand weakness continues to dominate the theme even though the long-term picture for SA looks a bit murky against the backdrop of labour tensions‚” said Devin Shutte‚ a trader at stockbrokerage‚ Newstrading.

The rand weakened to as much as R9.0855/$ during the morning session‚ boosting most rand hedged stocks‚ before recovering slightly by midday to R9.0324.

The All Share is now up over 3% in the year to date after a few sessions of consolidation.

Elsewhere‚ leading European shares were modestly higher at noon‚ with UK’s FTSE 100 edging up 0.23%.

HSBC's preliminary Chinese purchasing managers index for January grew to a 24-month high of 51.9 from a final reading of 51.5 in December‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Among individual stocks on the JSE‚ Anglo American Platinum (AMS) lifted 1.23% to 440.22 and African Rainbow Minerals (ARI) was up 1.19% to R200.30.

Among industrial stocks‚ SABMiller (SAB) gained 1.70% to R433.65‚ Bidvest (BVT) picked up 1.59% to R217.89‚ Barloworld (BAW) garnered 2.40% to R91.39 and Richemont (CFR) was up 1.02% to R73.18.

Old Mutual (OML) gained 1.45% to R26.63. 
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Rand - Dollar
18.87
+0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.84
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.38
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.32
+0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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