Bargain-hunting gives South African stocks a boost

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks edged up on Monday as investors hunted for bargains following a recent sell-off with banks and retailers among the top gainers.

Major retailers, the biggest losers on the bourse so far this year after a thunderous rise in 2012, recouped some lost ground. Mr Price gained 2.5 percent higher to 121.82 rand and Woolworths climbed 3.6 percent to 68.80 rand.

Investors have been offloading retailers from their portfolios over the last month after a spate of sales updates and earnings results failed to justify the companies' lofty trading multiples.

The JSE Top-40 index was up 0.3 percent to 35,359.19 and the broader All-share index gained by the same margin, to 39,787.96.

"There's still a lot of nervousness in the market ahead of the budget, the outcome of Italy elections and the debt ceiling but there is some bargain hunting after last week's sell-off," Henre Herselman, a trader a Nedbank Private Wealth said.

Nedbank, whose 19 percent rise in annual profit undershot market expectations, gained 0.8 percent to 189.50 rand after beating forecasts with a 24 percent hike in dividend payout.

Rival FirstRand improved 0.75 percent to 30.73 rand after the lender said first-half headline earnings per share likely rose as much as 29 percent.

On the downside, contract mining and equipment firm Eqstra dropped 1.8 percent to 5.99 rand, falling for the second day on news of a 146 million rand buyout offer for shares it does not already own in civil engineering firm Protech Khuthele Holdings.

A below average 143 million shares were traded, according to preliminary exchange data, with advancers outpacing decliners 204 to 112, while 55 shares were unchanged.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bargain-hunting-gives-south-african-stocks-boost-153900139--finance.html

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