BHP Billiton and Telkom lead exchange to another record
February 18, 2005
Johannesburg - Shares marched to another record high yesterday as Telkom jumped on an upbeat broker note, but disappointing earnings hit Woolworths.
The FTSE/JSE Top40 index hopped 0.67 percent higher to 11 993.9 points, notching up a second consecutive historic closing high, while the FTSE/JSE Africa all share index rose 0.6 percent to 13 259.76 points.
BHP Billiton took much of the credit, climbing 1.66 percent as investors continued to applaud stellar results released on Wednesday.
Telkom was the top gainer on the Top40, leaping 4.67 percent as a note from Deutsche Bank tipping the stock as a top pick focused attention on its attractive valuation versus emerging market peers, and raised hopes that a liberalised market would not seriously dent the company's profits.
"Deregulation came with a big hoo-ha, but people are starting to realise that the competitors are just nowhere and Telkom is not going to be impacted, at least not for a long time," said one analyst.
Sappi gained 0.92 percent after it said it would increase coated fine paper prices in Europe and other overseas markets.
Insurers fared well after upbeat results from European peer Zurich Financial, with Sanlam up 3.6 percent and Liberty gaining 2.2 percent.
Woolworths slid 1.9 percent after it posted a 16.2 percent rise in first-half earnings, short of expectations.
The news also hit other clothing retailers such as Edgars Consolidated Stores, which fell 1.34 percent as investors switched into supermarket chain Pick 'n Pay, which was up 2.25 percent.
Impala Platinum tumbled as much as 4 percent in intraday trade after flat first-half headline earnings, but recovered to close down 0.6 percent.
Gold stocks Harmony and Gold Fields fell 2.2 and 1 percent, respectively.
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