[2008-09-23]  JSE finishes higher as metals rally
THE JSE ended stronger yesterday, driven by stronger metal stocks, which continued to rally throughout the day.

Traders said that the market was continuing with its recovery after having been down drastically in the past few weeks.

“The market is up nicely and that is basically on the back of metal stocks, which have been doing very well," a local trader said.

“There has also been some interest in local financial stocks that have also come up quite nicely. There is basically just a continuation of recovery on the market. This is after having come down so drastically in the past few weeks." The trader said the market was still likely to remain volatile.

At 5pm, the all share index was 1,93% higher, with resources up 2,89%. Platinum miners, however, fell 1,48% while gold stocks were 5% higher. Industrials were up 0,32%; financials added 3,08% and banks rallied 4,65%.

Dow Jones Newswires said the US stocks traded lower as some financial stocks shed recent gains, but stocks held on to most of their rally on Thursday and Friday after a Japanese bank agreed to take a stake in Morgan Stanley. Mitsubishi UFJ agreed to take a stake of between 10% and 20% of the New York broker-dealer, sending shares of Morgan Stanley up 10% to $30,05.

Last week, Morgan traded as low as $11,70 on fears that it would join a string of Wall Street institutions pulled under by the weight of mortgage investments.

In local markets, Anglo American (AGL) was up R9,09, or 2,73%, to R342,59 while rival BHP Billiton (BIL) gained R6,64, or 3,15%, to R217,64.

Sasol (SOL) jumped R20,50, or 6,05%, to R359,50.

Among gold miners, AngloGold (ANG) gained R3,75, or 1,91%, to R200, Gold Fields (GFI) added R5,95, or 8,59%, to R75,20 and Harmony (HAR) was up R5,56, or 7,50%, to 7R9,71.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum (AMS) was down R27, or 2,92%, to R897, Impala Platinum (IMP) lost R1 to R185 and Lonmin (LON) fell R12,19, or 3,05%, to R387,31.

Among other miners, Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) gained R7,20, or 3,66%, to R204,05, Exxaro (EXX) was up R2,50, or 2,72%, to R94,50, while African Rainbow (ARI) lost R2, or 1,06%, to R186.

Financials services group Old Mutual (OML) gained 40c, or 3,17%, to R13, while Sanlam (SLM) was up 20c, or 1,12%, to R18.

Among banks, Standard Bank (SBK) was up R3,10, or 3,48%, to R92,30, Absa (ASA) jumped R4,80, or 4,40%, to R114, Nedbank (NED) was up R8,65, or 9,02%, to R104,60 and FirstRand (FSR) gained R1, or 6,08%, to R17,45.

Capitec Bank (CPI) remained unchanged at R32,50. This is after the group advised yesterday that its earnings and headline earnings for the six months ended August 31 were expected to exceed the earnings and headline earnings of the previous corresponding period by between 15% and 25%.

Elsewhere on the JSE, brewer SABMiller (SAB) was down R6,05, or 3,44%, to R169,90, Barloworld (BAW) was down 80c, or 1,29%, to R61,40. Bidvest (BVT), on the other hand, was up R5,90, or 5,35%, to R116,10 and Tiger Brands (TBS) gained R3, or 2,27%, to R134,90.

Telecommunications group MTN (MTN) gained 20c to R118,20 and Telkom (TKG) jumped R4,28, or 3,89%, to R114,28.

Also in the news, Kagiso Media (KGM) was up 8c to R10,20. The media group yesterday reported a 22% increase in its diluted headline earnings per share from 97,6c to 119,3c for the year to end June 2008.

This was based on a 22% growth in profit, from R142,7m in the year to end June 2007 to R174,1m for 2008. I-Net Bridge

white maize futures ended sharply higher on Monday on the back of a "relief rally" on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT).

Traders said the market was also higher as some anticipated a weakening in the rand following the weekend announcement of the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki. "Markets are sharply up and that is on a stronger CBOT as well on anticipation that the rand could possibly weaken," a grains trader said.

At the close of the local market the rand was at 8.0030, from 8.0770 when the agriculture futures market closed on Friday. The anticipated weakening of the currency by some traders has so far then not materialised. At 15:00 the rand had in fact strengthened further and was last bid at 7.9655 per dollar.

The December white maize contract gained 47 rand to 1,970 rand per ton, March maize was up 44 rand to 2,044 rand and October maize, which will be in delivery next month, jumped up 50 rand to 1,914 rand per ton.

Traders say the market will continue to watch the rand as well as overseas markets for possible market direction.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that CBOT corn futures are higher in a "relief rally" as traders are encouraged by a potential end to the global financial crisis, an analyst says. "The market is happy that it may not have to put up with any more fund liquidation," the analyst says. December maize is up 15 1/2 cents to $5.42 3/4 and March maize is up 15 1/2 cents to $5.58 3/4.
Source: Copyright © 2005 BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd.