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Johannesburg - Calm returned to the JSE's resources sector on Monday in reaction to news that the implementation of the Mining Charter could be postponed until it is reviewed by the courts. Most of the other sectors were also higher after a sharp sell-off on Thursday.
Gold shares were the only ones which continued to drop sharply.
READ: Mining Charter sees bloodbath resume on JSE
On Thursday the Resources index on the JSE dropped more than 2% in response to the details of the proposed new Mining Charter, which would increase pressure on mining firms to reach transformation goals generally regarded as unachievable to keep their licences.
By mid-morning the Resources index was 0.32% higher, with the share prices of most of the big mining conglomerates moderately up except for Anglo American [JSE:AGL], which lost 0.85%.
However, the blood bath in the gold sector continued and the Gold index was 3.77% lower after losing almost 5% on Thursday, as the gold price dropped further on Monday morning to $1 251.45 per ounce , the lowest level in three weeks.
The gold mining sector’s profit margins are already paper thin and they will be the most affected by the additional cost if the new Mining Charter is implemented.
The rest of the market was also higher, with the Industrial index led sharply higher by Naspers [JSE:NPN], which gained more than 3% in early trade as technology shares globally recovered from last week’s unexpected sell-off.
By mid-morning the Industrial index was already 0.72% higher, with the Financial index unchanged.
The result was that the All-share index at mid-morning was 0.47% higher at 51 070 points, and the Top 40 index, which includes all the big dual-listed shares, traded 0.57% stronger at 44 764 points. All the indices were sharply lower on Thursday.
Share prices on the JSE were also supported by a softer but steady rand, trading at R12.80 to the dollar - the same as Friday night's closing levels in New York.
Among the top resources shares BHP [JSE:BIL] traded 0.84% higher at R190.75 and Glencore [JSE:GLN] gained 0.76% to R46.49. Anglo American was initially 1.89% softer at R160.21, before recovering to R161.93. Anglo has now lost 26% of its value over the past 90 days.
In the platinum sector Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] traded 1.22% higher at R184.75, but Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] lost 0.71% to R36.24.
Harmony [JSE:HAR] was the biggest loser in the gold sector, trading 5.83% lower. Sibanye [JSE:SGL] was the busiest share on the JSE, with more than 6.8 million shares being traded.
Naspers was the star performer in the industrial sector, pulling the market higher and gaining 2.79% to R2 567.65. Earlier the share was more than 3% stronger at R2 581.
Naspers reacted to a sharp gain in the share price of Tencent. the Chinese internet giant in which it holds a 34.4% stake. Tencent was 2.27% stronger at mid-morning at HK$278.80.
