Johannesburg — SHARES on the JSE gained near the end of trading yesterday after a lacklustre day, as it tracked sharp increases in early US trade, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising to a five-week high.

The Dow Jones closed 1,17% higher last night, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index inched up 0,95% at the close.

"It's insane volatility," said Cortex Derivate Brokers trader Martin Lentsoane.

He said the JSE had ignored higher than expected inflation in SA and had followed the fast-rising share prices in the US.

Better than expected data in the US had driven up share prices, even though US futures had indicated a negative market opening.

Reports said the US stocks had gained after an unexpected increase in durable goods orders fuelled speculation that the recession might be over, data showed that new house purchases in the US had risen 4,7% and US President Barack Obama said the economy was fundamentally strong.

The FTSE/JSE all share index ended 0,7% higher, with gold miner shares rising 2,4%, platinum stocks 2,3%, banking shares up more than 4%, life insurance companies up 2,4%, while the technology share index rose 3,7%.

European stocks recovered slightly from weak trading earlier in the day. Shares in Europe were driven lower as German business confidence slid to the lowest level in 26 years and metals prices fell, but the FTSE 100 was up a marginal 0,2% on better sentiment in the US. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index had fallen 0,8% at 12.43pm in London.

The regional gauge had gained 12% since March 9 after Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase said they made money in the first two months of this year and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled plans to rid banks of toxic assets.

The price of Brent crude oil was marginally lower at $53,02 a barrel late yesterday afternoon after data showed that US inventories had fallen sharply because of weaker demand.

Gold was $1,33 higher at $927,20/oz, while the prices of metals such as aluminium (-2,3%), lead (-4,8), tin (-2%) and nickel

(-1%) sagged later, reportedly because the macroeconomic environment for demand remained weak.

Spooking metals prices was the Japan Ministry of Finance statement that the country's overseas shipments had plummeted 49,4% from a year earlier, the sharpest decline since at least 1980, when the government started to keep comparable data.

Meanwhile, in the UK, government bonds slumped, extending three days of losses, after an auction of 40-year gilts failed to meet the amount of debt the Treasury offered. This was the first time the UK Treasury failed to attract enough bids at a sale of nominal debt in 14 years.

Anglo American lost only 1,6% to R170,78 on the JSE, even after the mining company was cut to "sell" from "hold" by RBS.

Among the local banks, Absa rose 3,1% to R99,49, while Nedbank Group rose sharply by 5,7% to R88,81. Media group Naspers was up 5,9% to R158,05. Computer group Mustek's share fell 7,9% to R1,75. With Bloomberg