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The JSE. Photo: Simphiwe Mbokazi.

The JSE lifted at the opening bell on Wednesday, boosted by Asian markets on renewed hopes that Greece was closer to agreeing to bailout conditions, as demanded by its creditors.

At 09:17 local time, the JSE all-share index was 0.56% in the black to 34,165.03 points, with gold index up 0.85%, while resources gained 0.85% and platinums added 0.37%.

Industrials lifted 0.46%, financials edged up 0.32%, and banks were up 0.22%.

The rand was trading at 7.53 to the US dollar, from 7.56 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at US$1,749.09 a troy ounce from US$1,723.82/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at US$1,651/oz, from US$1,621.02/oz before.

“There seems to be optimism again that Greece is on track to agree to tough austerity measures, hence some positive sentiment this morning,” said Viv Govender, market analyst at Vunani Private Clients Services.

Asian stock markets climbed modestly on Wednesday, helped by signs of progress over debt restructuring talks in Greece.

“We expect tight ranges to continue, possibly until we get a definitive solution from Greece,” said IG Markets chief market analyst, Stan Shamu, in Melbourne.

The European Central Bank has made key concessions over its holdings of Greek government bonds, which will contribute to a reduction of the country's debt burden and smooth the path toward a new bailout for the country, said people briefed on Greece's debt-restructuring negotiations.

The decision by one of the Greek government's biggest creditors will narrow a gap in Greece's finances, helping pave the way for a debt-restructuring agreement with Greece's private-sector creditors and a new EUR130 billion (US$170 billion) bailout from other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund.

A meeting among Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the three party bosses supporting his coalition government over the new loan deal was pushed back, for the second time, to Wednesday.

European stock markets are likely to start mixed while investors wait for the simmering Greek debt talks to come to a boil.

US stock futures are mixed, after markets reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday, reversing early losses on optimism that the Greece talks were making progress and that the US Federal Reserve would keep interest rates low.

On the JSE, Anglo American (AGL) was up R4.01 or 1.18% to R343.56, Sasol (SOL) edged up 80 cents to R399.85, BHP Billiton (BIL) added R2.50 to R261.50. The global resources giant earlier reported basic earnings per share of 186.8 cents for the six months ended December 2011, from 189.2 cents a year ago. Excluding exceptional items, Earnings per share were down 2.9%. Revenue was 9.7% higher at US$37.48 billion, while profit from operations was 8.1% higher at $15.69 billion. A dividend of 55 cents was declared, up 19.6% from 46 cents a year ago.

In gold stocks, AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) gained R3.43 or 1% to R345.43, Gold Fields (GFI) picked up R1.22 to R126.62 and Harmony Gold Mining (HAR) edged up 40 cents to R95.10.

Anglo American Platinum (AMS) was up R1.25 to R555, Lonmin (LON) added R1.10 to R128.20.

Among other miners, Exxaro Resources (EXX) gained 73 cents to R207.05, Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) added R2.30 to R546.30.

In industrials, SAB (SAB) was up R2.04 to R300, while Richemont (CFR) recovered 47 cents or 1.06% to R44.62.

Sappi (SAP) rallied 73 cents or 2.75% to R27.28. The paper and pulp giant posted a profit of US$45 million for the first quarter ending December compared to a $37 million profit for the previous comparable quarter.

The group's operating profit for the quarter on a year-on-year comparative basis however declined from $137 million to $100 million, but it must be noted that the previous comparable quarter benefited from an extra week.

Basic earnings per share were 9 US cents versus 7 US cents previously. - I-Net Bridge