South African stocks close firmer on Monday

South African stocks rallied on Monday, taking cue from a rebound in global share markets, on the eve of the tightly contested U.S. presidential election.

Investors expressed their happiness on the outcome of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe, which found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server.

The all share index was up 1.24 percent to 50,303.77 points at close of session, ending a three-day losing run that left the R13.1-trillion benchmark gauge at its lowest level in eight months on Friday.

The blue-chip top 40 was up 1.42 percent to 43,842.82 points, industrial 1.29 percent up, while resources rose 1.02 percent.

Gold stocks retreated in line with a weaker gold price and a slightly stronger rand.

The South African rand traded up, and at close of session 1.03 percent higher at R13.41 to the U.S. dollar.

The price of gold, which tends to drop when investors are willing to take on more risk, was off 1.69 percent to 1,281.4 U.S. dollars an ounce at 5:00 p.m. local time.

Among some individual stocks, BHP Billiton was up 2.49 percent to R202.81 and Glencore added 4.04 percent to R41.71. Exxaro gained 4.04 percent to R107.92.

Industrial group Bidvest gained 2.14 percent to R166.38 and Barloworld gained 3.44 percent to R87.8.

Standard Bank was up 3.08 percent to R146.38 and Barclays Africa gained 2.1 percent to R155.25. Woolworths rose 0.81 percent to R72.25 and Massmart picked up 2.99 percent to R116.38. Endit