Johannesburg Stock Exchange key index exceeds 50,000 for first time

South Africa’s benchmark stocks index rose above 50,000 for the first time, led by SABMiller, the world’s second-biggest brewer, and Business Connexion Group, a computer-services company targeted for a takeover.  The 166-member FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index rose as much as 0.8 percent to 50,037.05 and traded 0.7 percent higher by 12:46 p.m. in Johannesburg.

SABMiller advanced 3.3 percent to a record 590.55 rand after fiscal full-year earnings before interest, tax and amortisation met analysts estimates.  Business Connexion was the best performer today, rallying 8.4 percent to 64.46 rand as Telkom offered to pay 6.60 rand a share for the company to expand its cloud-based services.

“Momentum can continue,” Ferdi Heyneke, a trader at Afrifocus Securities, said by phone from Johannesburg today.  Heyneke also stated, “We’re seeing a broad-based market that is firm. We’re seeing very nice moves in some of these big industrials.”  The gauge gained 8.1 percent this year, compared with a 3.6 percent advance in the 822-member MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Sibanye Gold, a Johannesburg-based bullion producer, more than doubled since the start of the year while AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third-largest miner of the metal, advanced 44 percent.  Foreign investors put 23 billion rand into Africa’s largest stock exchange in the year to May 16 from 13.5 billion rand in the same period of 2013, according to data from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.  The money from offshore investors is boosted by excess cash in local pension funds, Heyneke concluded.

Source: Independent Online