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Strike optimism pushes JSE to new record

Johannesburg - Despite an hour delay in trading on the JSE on Wednesday, renewed expectations of an end to the three month old platinum strike lifted the mood and pushed the All-share index to a new record shortly after midday.
 
However platinum shares did not move much as the possibility of an end to the strike has mostly been discounted.

There was no immediate reaction to the news that inflation increased to 6% last month. Higher inflation increases the possibility of another hike in interest rates. This will be good news for banking shares but bad news for the retail sector.

The market was also supported by another rally on Wall Street on the back of good company results, while a provisional report showed a slight improvement in Chinese manufacturing activity this month.

By midday, the All-share index was 0.42% higher on 48 849, which is 9 points higher than the previous record reached earlier this month. The Top-40 index, which was 0.28% higher on 43 836 points was also in record territory.

All the other indices were also higher with the Gold index more than 1% stronger due to a higher gold price.

There were indications this morning that the union Amcu will hold a mass meeting tomorrow to discuss the mining companies latest offer, which are currently been thrashed out in negotiations.

This will be good news for the industry with stockpiles low and the striking miners themselves in dire financial straits.

The platinum shares however were quite mixed. Amplats [JSE:AMS] was unchanged on R509.99 after opening lower, while Implats [JSE:IMP] fell 1.29% to R121.81. Lonmin [JSE:LON] was 0.33% higher on R51.92.

Amongst the retailers Pick n Pay [JSE:PIK] continued its strong run after results last week that indicated that the new management have managed to turn things around at the group. Pick n Pay lagged the other retailer when they were running strong and is now making up lost ground. The share price increased with another 4.55% to a record high of R25.30.

Amongst the other retailers Shoprite [JSE:SHP] improved 0.89% to R170.65, but Clicks [JSE:CLS] which will announce its results shortly, traded 0.03% lower on R62.47.

Sanlam [JSE:SLM] investors did not respond much to the news that it is expanding its influence in South Asia by acquiring 51% of MCIS Zurich Insurance Berhad in Malaysia. The share price was only 0.04% higher on R55.23.

Amongst the banking shares, which reached new highs earlier this month, nothing much happened. Standard Bank [JSE:SBK], which traded on a high of R143.70 on April 4 was 0.09% lower on R139.63. FirstRand [JSE:FSR] strengthened 0.05% to R38.46, just below its previous record of R38.75.

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Rand - Dollar
18.89
+0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.82
+0.4%
Rand - Euro
20.37
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.30
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.3%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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