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Johannesburg - The All-share index on the JSE, which closed at the highest level for the year on Wednesday evening, strengthened even further on Thursday morning on the back of buoyant global markets.
By mid-morning the index was 1.14% higher at 54 334 points and the Top 40 index had gained 1.10% to 48 251 points.
This means that the All-share index is now almost 7% higher than the 50 693 points it reached on December 30 last year and has regained 16% from the 52-week low of 46 282 points reached on January 20 this year. The index is now less than a 1 000 points (2%) below the all-time high of 55 188 points reached on April 20 last year.
Financial shares, which are regarded as oversold, continued their strong run of the past seven days in which the index gained more than 6%, trading 0.89% higher. The Industrial index gained 0.69%. Some of the big shares in the index, such as Naspers [JSE:NPN] and British American Tobacco (BAT) [JSE:BTI], briefly traded at new 52-week highs.
The local market was supported by another resilient performance by Wall Street on Wednesday and higher European markets on Thursday. The Asian markets were flat as Chinese share prices reached a two-and-a-half month low after weaker than expected Chinese corporate data.
Analysts say world markets are remarkably resilient as despite rather lacklustre first-quarter corporate results, they do not seem uncomfortable with the notion of higher interest rates in the US.
Sentiment also received a huge boost as oil traded above $50 per barrel for the first time in seven months. Energy shares worldwide were higher, which in turn lifted the share prices of base metal producers. BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] traded 3.4% up at R200.35, and Anglo American gained 3.7% to R147.12.
The JSE was also supported by a turnaround in the prices of precious metals such as gold and platinum, as the rampant dollar took a breather.
Platinum shares were sharply higher, with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS] and Impala Platinum (Implats) [JSE:IMP] both gaining more than 5% as the platinum price rose $11.00 to be back above $1 000 per ounce at $1 002.00. The run in the platinum shares helped the Resources index lift 2.82% by mid-morning.
At that stage Amplats had gained 6.90% to R398.72 after being almost 8% higher in earlier trade, while Implats was 5.38% stronger at R50.16 after reaching a high of R50.50 or 6% higher.
The Gold index gained 3.36% after the yellow metal recovered 3.3% to $1 227.30. AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] traded 3.74% higher at R218.76 and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] was 2.42% stronger at R56.34. Harmony [JSE:HAR] was however only 0.36% up at R47.40.
The oil price rose on signs that a global supply glut is easing, one week ahead of an Opec meeting. A larger-than-expected draw in US crude oil inventories indicated buyers are starting to mop up spare supply. US government data showed on Wednesday that crude stocks fell by 4.2 million barrels in the week ended May 20, much steeper than the 2.5 million barrels forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll and the biggest drop in seven weeks.
Sasol [JSE:SOL], whose income is directly affected by the oil prce, traded 1.74% up at R486.33. The share is now 25.2% higher than three months ago.
In the industrial sector, Naspers and BAT both briefly reached 52-week intraday highs, but lost momentum later on as investors used the opportunity to take profits. Naspers, which gained 20% over the past 39 days before Thursday trade started, reached R2 335.00 compared to the current high of R2 233.00. It could however not sustain that level and at mid-morning was only 1.02% stronger at R2 227.49.
At that stage BAT was 0.75% lower at R955.62 after trading 0.64% up at R968.55, beating the current high of R962.81.
Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] was again the star among the big banks, gaining 2.70% to R149.93. Before Thursday the share was already 7.6% higher over the past seven days. Standard Bank [JSE:SBK], which also gained more than 7% over the past seven days, added 1.84% on Thursday morning to trade at R125.21. FirstRand [JSE:FSR] traded 1.84% higher at R44.52.
