Weaker rand nudges JSE to two-week highs

The JSE rallied to its best level in about two weeks on Wednesday‚ lifted by rand-hedge shares.

The all share index was up 0.44% to 52‚670.60 points in early afternoon trade‚ with the blue-chip top 40 adding 0.52%.

“I’m surprised that our market is picking up from where it left off on Tuesday. The weak rand is the primary driver‚” Investec Asset Management’s head of dealing for emerging markets‚ Ryan Wibberley‚ said.

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On Wednesday‚ the rand weakened to 2001 lows to the dollar at about R12.80‚ boosting mainly the resources sector‚ while financial and industrial shares lagged.

Stanlib economist Kevin Lings said South Africa remained one of the more vulnerable emerging economies given its relatively large fiscal and current account deficits‚ among other factors.

Leading European share markets were higher at midday‚ with Germany’s DAX 30 gaining 1.27%‚ while US stock futures pointed to a positive session on Wall Street later in the afternoon.

Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American was up 2.07% to R154.11 and rival BHP Billiton added 3.81% to R238.01.

Impala Platinum was up 2.12% to R44.36‚ with Lonmin gaining 2.61% to R9.03.

Financial services group Nedbank gave up 3.22% to R262.30 after settling at record highs on Tuesday following its first-half results.

- BDlive