Share prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed in positive territory on Tuesday, mainly assisted by resource stocks.

The all-share index was up 0.24 percent to 54,499.11 points. The blue-chip top 40 index was 0.34 percent higher at 48,223.29 points.

The Industrial index was 0.59 percent softer after a strong run in the previous few days, while the financial index declined 0.64 percent.

The South African rand traded at R13.04 to the U.S. dollar at 5:00 p.m. (CAT)

On the JSE, Anglo American was up 5.95 percent to R196.69, Sasol was up 4.21 percent to R387.58 despite a relatively soft trading update, in which the petrochemical company said it expects full-year headline earnings per share to drop by between 11 percent and 21 percent.

Kumba was up 17.34 percent to R203, and Assore gained 6.3 percent to R217.6. The other big resources shares also traded firmer. BHP was 4.93 percent higher at R228.48, and Glencore gained 6.29 percent to R54.28.
Naspers share price gained 0.8 percent to R2,862.23.

Some of the other heavyweights in the industrial sector lost ground. Richemont was 0.39 percent softer at R108.5 and British American Tobacco lost 1.67 percent to R899.5.

Among the banking shares Standard Bank dropped 0.15 percent to R159.71 FirstRand tumbled 1.99 percent at R51.1.