Money SA economy
The JSE closed in the black on Thursday ahead of the Easter weekend, tracking positive global sentiment, while commodities were boosted by firmer metal prices.
At 5pm, the all share index gained 0.95%, with resources up 1.55%, gold miners were 1.71% higher, and platinum miners pocketed 0.38%.
Banks were off 0.03%, but financials profited a fraction, up 0.03% and the industrial index advanced 0.79%.
Gold was quoted at $1,125.51 a troy ounce from 1,115.82/oz at the JSE's last close and platinum was at $1,670/oz from $1,647.50/oz at the JSE's last close.
Dow Jones Newswires reported US stocks climbed broadly on Thursday after jobless claims pared and international manufacturing expanded both in Asia and Europe.
On the first trading day of the second quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72 points, or 0.7%, to 10929 in early trading. The measure ended the first quarter Wednesday up 4.11%, the best first-quarter performance since 1999.
Both the Nasdaq Composite and the Standard & Poor's 500-share index gained 0.9%.
The market was broadly boosted Thursday by a slightly larger-than-expected decline in weekly jobless claims. The Labour Department said in its weekly report that initial claims for jobless benefits declined by 6,000 to 439,000 in the week ended March 27.
On the JSE, Anglo American was up R8.48 or 2.66% to R327.43 and BHP Billiton was R3.65 higher at R255.65. Sasol picked up R1.47 to R304.20 as the counter went ex-dividend.
