S. Africa stocks close higher Thursday

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) rallied on Thursday, with gains boosted sentiment on markets around the world.

The JSE all share closed 1.79 percent higher to 52,698.58 points, with 4.27 percent gains in resource shares leading the upward move.

The rand was trading at R13.86 to the U.S. dollar, R17.96 to the British pound, and R15.56 to the euro at the close.

Gold had fallen 0.21 percent to sell at 1318.51 U.S. dollars an ounce.

BHP Billiton, which has extended interests in oil and gas, gained 6.17 percent to R207.50.

Anglo American gained a solid 5.23 percent to reach a new 52-week intraday high of R173.04.

Two other big commodity shares, Glencore and Impala Platinum, also reached intraday 52-week highs. Endit