JOHANNESBURG, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed firmer on Tuesday as resources and gold shares made a lift.
The JSE opened in the morning lower following news that South Africa's mining companies applied to the high court in Pretoria to block the government's controversial Mining Charter, arguing that the new rules would destroy the industry.
Most of the other indices were higher, the resources index closed 2.83 percent higher, lifting the all-share index 0.28 percent higher to 51,562 points. The blue-chip top 40 index was up 0.59 percent to 45 380 points.
The gold mining index gained 2.01 percent and platinums gained 1.27 percent.
The price of Brent crude was 0.75 percent firmer at 46.26 U.S. dollars a barrel, while gold was up 0.23 percent to 1,246.87 dollars an ounce and platinum gained 0.43 percent to 920.35 dollars an ounce.
Diversified miners made good gains, led by Anglo American, up 3.51 percent to R164.81 and BHP was up 2.87 percent to R191.6.
Kumba Iron Ore shot up 7.98 percent to R158.32 while African Rainbow minerals lifted 5.2 percent to R76.26.
Gold miners stood out with Gold Fields gaining 2.97 percent to R46.77, AngloGold Ashanti rebounded 2.95 percent to R138.86.
The Industrial index was only 0.1 percent lower, with Naspers tumbled 0.33 percent to R260.08. British American Tobacco was 0.05 percent stronger at R896.48 and Sasol 1.7 percent up at R366.12.
The top banking shares were all among the busiest shares on the JSE. The financial index lost 0.01 percent. Barclays Africa was 0.03 percent weaker at R146.08, Standard Bank declined 1.17 percent to R142.12, and FirstRand lost 0.96 percent to R47.6. Enditem
