JSE gets into festive mood with gains

The JSE ended a fair bit higher yesterday‚ finally breaking into positive territory this month, which is usually a good one for the exchange.

JSE data showed that offshore investors sold a net R3.2-billion of South African shares last week compared with net purchases of R1.9-billion the previous week.

The JSE all-share index lost 0.59% in the week‚ but is now up 0.23% for the month.

Earlier in the day‚ the Hang Seng index closed 0.83% higher.

The JSE all-share added 1.87% to 50 322.7 points as gold miners made the biggest gains, with the index adding 3.22%.

Platinum stocks were up 2.91% and resources 2.39%.

Banks also fared well‚ 2.28% higher‚ and financial shares added 1.48%.

Industrials improved 1.84%‚ general retailers 2.5% and food and drug retailers 2.29%. Listed property was 1.54% to the good.

The stronger gold price was little moved‚ while platinum was lower. Gold is now up 7.26% this year and platinum 1.13%.

Harmony stood out‚ jumping 7.26% to R28.80‚ while Sibanye leapt 5.89% to R23.37.

Anglo American Platinum surged 4.53% to R264.68.

Diversified miner BHP Billiton gained 2.83% to R222.61 and Anglo American 2.46% to R199.56.

Naspers was 2.49% higher at R1 985.07, after it’s 34%-owned Chinese social networking firm Tencent said it was eyeing a 10% stake in Netherlands-based HERE Global to get a foothold in the self-driving vehicle market.

Construction group Aveng was up 3.02% to R7.85. – BusinessLive