* Top-40 index up 0.54 percent
* All-share index up 0.58 percent
JOHANNESBURG, March 27 (Reuters) – South African stocks
ended higher on Tuesday, extending gains for the third day
after, the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would continue to
support the world’s largest economy with loose monetary policy.
But the benchmark and the broader indexes gave up some gains
after data showed U.S. consumer confidence dipped in March
.
“The momentum has stalled a bit after U.S. confidence data
came out,” said Henre Herselman, a trader at BoE Stockbrokers.
Investors have been reluctant to make large moves ahead of a
domestic interest rate decision on Thursday, which most
economists expecting the South African Reserve Bank to keep the
number on hold at 5.5 percent
Market players will be watching if the central bank takes a
hawkish stand on inflation, which breached its 3-6 percent
target in November and has been above the band since then.
The JSE Top-40 index added 0.54 percent to
29,957.44 and the broader All-share index gained 0.58
percent to 33,858.22.
Banks were among the top gainers, continuing to bounce back
from three-week low suffered in recent sessions. Absa,
which runs the biggest retail bank, was up 2.03 at 158.10 rand.
Rivals FirstRand and Standard Bank added 1.98
percent and 1.27 percent, respectively.
Continued…
