The JSE rebounded to close firmer on Thursday as it followed the trend in other global markets.

Investors globally found relief in the possibility of a solution to the current Italian crisis and this resulted in the Euro trading firmer against the US dollar. Asian counters closed firmer earlier on as the Hang Seng and Nikkei climbed 1.37% and 0.83% respectively. Despite opening firmer, European counters pulled back towards the close however this did not impact the momentum on the JSE.

The local bourse sustained its gains which saw Rand sensitive stocks gain due to the stronger Rand earlier on. The majority of the blue-chip stocks were also trading in the green which helped lift the broader index higher.

Retailers, The Foschini Group [JSE:TFG], Truworths [JSE:TRU] and Shoprite [JSE:SHP] climbed by 3.39%, 1.92% and 0.78% respectively. Platinum miners, Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] and Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] added 5.3% and 2.44% respectively as they were buoyed by relatively higher platinum metal prices.

Listed property stocks, Greenbay Properties [JSE:GRP] and Delta Property Fund [JSE:DLT] recorded gains of 8.73% and 6.42% respectively. Rand hedges, British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] and Mondi PLC [JSE:MNP] managed to add 2.69% and 1.93% respectively, whilst bankers, Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] and Capitec Holdings [JSE:CPI] gained 2.41% and 0.7% respectively.

Losses on the JSE Top-40 index were relatively limited to a handful of stocks such as Mediclinic [JSE:MEI], Remgro [JSE:REM] and Investec Limited [JSE:INL] which lost 1.46%, 0.34% and 0.45% respectively. Ascendis Health [JSE:ASC] and Tongaat Hulett [JSE:TON] dropped 5.75% and 5.01% respectively, whilst Brait [JSE:BAT] lost 5.07% to close at R36.51 per share.

The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index gained 1.01%, whilst the broader JSE All-Share Index firmed by 1%. All the major indices closed in the green with the biggest gainer being the Resources index which gained 1.88%. The Financials and Industrials indices added 1.01% and 0.63% respectively.

Trading in the Rand was volatile as the local currency strengthened to a session high of R12.45/$. However the rand erased all of its gains to eventually trade at R12.66/$ at 17.00 CAT, down 1.31% for the day.

Gold inched higher on the day to trade at $1304.76/Oz at 17.00 CAT, up 0.21% for the day. At that same time Platinum and Palladium were trading at $912.00/Oz AND $990.21/Oz respectively, both marginally firmer on the day.

Brent crude tracked higher on the day to reach a session high of $78.40/barrel. The commodity retraced briefly to trade at $78.05/barrel just after the JSE close.

Ethereum recorded gains of 4.12% to trade at $576.10 per coin at 17.00 CAT, whilst Bitcoin was trading 3.04% firmer at $7563.22 per coin.