JOHANNESBURG: South African stocks bounced back on Tuesday led by resource stocks such as Lonmin and African Rainbow Minerals as platinum rallied for a fifth day in a row and following encouraging confidence data from Germany.
German analyst and investor sentiment jumped in March to its highest level since June 2010, confirming hopes that Europe's largest economy has recovered from a weak patch.
US retail sales also posted their largest gain in five months in February as Americans stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and other goods even as they paid more for gasoline.
"The market went better today on the back of the German confidence figure that came in much better than forecast," a Johannesburg-based trader said.
"Commodity prices also went up overnight and that's all pushing through to our market."
The benchmark blue-chip Top-40 index rose 0.78 percent to 30,302.80, while the broader All-Share index rose 0.81 percent to 34,175.39.
Johannesburg-listed shares of Lonmin, the world's third-largest primary platinum producer, closed up 2.46 percent at 128.48 rand, after the price of the precious metal shot above that of gold for the first time in six months.
Diversified miner ARM, also active in platinum, was the next biggest gainer, up 2.12 percent at 187 rand.
Losers of the day were led by South Africa's biggest furniture maker, Steinhoff International, down 1.19 percent at 27.49 rand. Mobile phone operator MTN Group closed 0.87 percent lower at 142.01 rand.
Kumba Iron Ore still pushed lower after losses the previous day, when the iron ore producer traded ex-dividend or without the right to the latest dividend payout. The miner closed down 1.06 percent at 537.25 rand.
Trade was thin with 192 million shares changing hands, according to preliminary bourse data, down from the daily average of 256 million sold last year.
Advancers outnumbered decliners at 193 to 91. A total of 59 stocks were unchanged.
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