Resources lead SA stock recovery

Johannesburg - South African stocks clawed back losses on Tuesday, rising over 1% as miners and banks benefited from a global rally in riskier assets on hopes European leaders would tackle the debt crisis.

Global miner Anglo American rose 2.5% to R273.45 after saying it was still open to talks with Chilean miner Codelco to end their spat over assets.

"It is really driven by resources at this stage," said Deryck Janse van Rensburg, a trader at BJM Private Clients.

"Resources are all looking oversold, so you might find a short bounce on them and that could hold our market at current levels and possibly give it a bit of surge towards the 33,800, but it looks very positive that we stay at above the 33,000 level," he said regarding the All-Share index

Johannesburg's broad-based All Share [JSE:J203] index gained 1.22% to 33 488.14.

The blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index rose 1.35% to 29 538.24 after finishing the previous session at its lowest close since early January. The index is down nearly 4% from its 2012 high of 30 834.94 hit in early February.

Foreign investor were returning to South Africa, as shown by the slight appreciation of the rand, signalling a return of risk appetite, van Rensburg said.

The local currency has rowed back after hitting a five-month low of 8.44 on Friday.

Nedbank topped the gainers list, rising 3.4% jump to R170.46. South Africa's fourth-largest had fallen 2.3% over the previous five sessions.

Naspers recouped some ground after sliding more than 5% in the previous session, in line with the negative sentiment that hit Facebook and other internet companies.

The African media giant added 2.5% to R447.

Major gainers in the commodities sector were the world's third-biggest gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti, and smaller rival Harmony. They both added over 2.6%.

South Africa's second-largest hospital group Mediclinic bucked the trend after posting a smaller-than-expected rise in full-year profit. Shares dropped 3% to R37.40.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on Tuesday 190 to 90 while 66 stocks were unchanged. Preliminary data also showed that around 170.5 million shares changed hands.

Source: www.fin24.com

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