South African stocks rise

South African stocks rose for the third straight session on Tuesday spurred on by investor sentiment that favoured banking and mining shares such as Anglo American Platinum. Oil prices, which were up 2.5 percent at 1525 GMT, also fanned demand for synthetic fuel maker Sasol, which added more than 5 percent. Johannesburg's Top 40 index gained 1.1 percent to 45,708 and the All-share ended at 51,949, or 1 percent higher.
"It's a change of sentiment on the back of higher oil prices and the feeling that some of the resources shares generally have come down too much," said Ferdi Heyneke, portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities. Amplats was the biggest bluechip gainer having added 6.4 percent. This was after shaving more than 13 percent last year. Rival Impala Platinum ended 5 percent higher having slid nearly 38 percent in 2014. Standard Bank, Africa's biggest lender by assets, gained nearly 5 percent, while Nedbank climbed 2 percent.