Stocks remained in the black at midday on Wednesday, buoyed by resources and mining stocks.

By noon, the all share index was up 1.27 percent, led by a 2.65 percent rise in the resources index, a 2.48 percent gain in the gold mining index and a 0.45 percent increase in the platinum mining index.

Financials were up 0.23 percent, but banks were off 0.29 percent and industrials were unchanged.

The rand was bid at 7.75 to the dollar from 7.82 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $808.25 a troy ounce from $794.40 at the JSE's last close.

"There was quite a nice bounce in some commodities overnight and the Far East markets were up and Europe has followed suit, so we are also looking better today," said a local equities trader.

The trader added, however that volatility in commodities prices was making the market nervous and that volumes on the JSE have been lighter than usual.

I-Net Bridge