The JSE rallied to a record high on Thursday following the US Federal Reserve's decision to prolong its quantitative easing programme at its present levels.
At 5pm, the all share index was up 2.15% to a record 44 302.94 points with the blue chip top 40 index lifting 2.24%. Mining counters drove most of the market gains despite a stronger rand, with the gold and platinum indices surging 7.09% and 6.67%, respectively.
By 5.17pm the spot gold price had edged up 0.82% to $1373.57/oz, with the price of platinum up 0.92% at $1476.50/oz.
Among individual shares on the JSE, Anglo American (AGL) rose 3.11% to R254.40, with its subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) rising 3.20% to R485.05 and Exxaro (EXX) adding 3.30% to R169.98.
In the gold sector, AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) surged 10.31% to R138, Harmony (HAR) jumped 6.53% to R37.50 and Gold Fields (GFI) climbed 4.55% to R49.14.
Platinum counters saw Anglo American Platinum (AMS) surge 7.83% to R455.05 and Impala (IMP) jump 7.75% to R130.76.
Among the big four, Standard Bank (SBK) led the gains, closing 3.63% higher at R120.90 and FirstRand (FSR) improved 3.85% to R34.50. RMB Holdings (RMH) increased 5.44% to R47.50 and financials services group Liberty (LBH) added 5.58% to R122.70.
Among retailers, Lewis (LEW) surged 5.73% to R67.01 and Pick n Pay (PIK) leapt 4.08% to R41.63.
