Holding on to its positive momentum the JSE ended 427 points higher on Monday, held up by resource and precious metal counters with positive trade on Wall Street also adding support.

However, gold counters lost impetus and were the only sector in the red.

At 5pm the JSE all share index had gained 1.64 percent, with resources up 2.43 percent and platinum producers adding 1.97, however, gold miners lost 1.18 percent.

Banks put on 1.92 percent, financials were up 1.06 percent and industrials added 1.10 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.32 to the dollar from 7.33 just before the JSE closed on Friday. Gold was quoted at $1053.57 a troy ounce from $1050.99/oz just before the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1352.50/oz, from $1338.50/oz at its previous close.

"We ended up on the market today, resources are offering us support. We managed to hold on to our levels throughout the day," a trader said.

"The miners are leading us higher, but gold stocks are trading lower, they lost some of their momentum. The gold price is relatively flat.

"The US market is up and that gave us support. Volumes are good, we have had a fairly active day," she said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the DJIA climbed back above the 10 000 mark on Monday as US stocks rose at the start of another busy week of corporate earnings reports.

Shortly after the opening bell, the DJIA was higher by about 23 points, trading at 10018. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index were each higher by about 0.2 percent.

Mostly well-received earnings from the likes of JP Morgan Chase and Intel helped lift the Standard Poor's 500 by 1.5 percent last week. Another 135 S&P 500 components are reporting this week. According to Thomson Reuters, the blended earnings growth rate, which combines companies that have reported with analysts' estimates for those that haven't, has improved to -22.6 percent for the third quarter from -24.6 percent the prior week for S&P 500 components.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on Sunday, saying that the world financial crisis signals the need for global rebalancing. Though Bernanke didn't specifically set out what rebalancing means, most interpret that to mean that debtor countries like the US save more and that countries with surpluses like China spend more. It also could mean the dollar weakening at the expense of other rivals. Bernanke is due at 11am EDT to make a speech on Asia and the financial crisis.

The dollar was a bit weaker against rivals, falling to Y90.85 from Y90.87 late Friday.

"We agree that the dollar will likely weaken further in the months ahead, but we think a crisis is unlikely," said Ethan Harris, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Harris pointed out central banks aren't in a hurry to dump US holdings, despite official rhetoric. "The reason central banks continue to pile up reserves is that they continue to depend on exports to drive growth," Harris said.

At the time the JSE closed, the DJIA had added 0.86 percent.

On the JSE, Anglo American plc was up 4.94 percent to 276 rand and BHP Billiton rose 2.74 percent, to 221.03 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol gained 2.30 percent to 312 rand.

Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti gave up 2.50 rand to 329.50 rand and Gold Fields lost 2.52 percent to 104.50 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum put on 2.27 percent to 675 rand, Impala Platinum rose 1.87 percent to 162.99 rand and Lonmin gained 2.38 percent to 206.25 rand.

Elsewhere on the JSE, brewer SABMiller added 1.85 rand to 198.20 rand, British American Tobacco put on 1.20 percent to 241.06 rand, Bidvest was up 2.03 percent to 121.77 rand and Remgro collected 1.03 percent to 90.30 rand.

Among banks, Standard Bank added 2.50 percent to 102.50 rand and FirstRand rose 1.66 percent to 17.10 rand.

Financial services group Old Mutual put on 1.55 percent to 13.80 rand.

Sugar group Illovo rose 3.04 percent to 34.18 rand.

Media group Naspers was up 2.96 percent to 280.04 rand.

Retailer Woolies rose 2.71 percent to 17.05 rand, Lewis added 3.81 percent to 57.20 rand and JD Group was up 4.18 percent to 45.90 rand.

Liberty International added 1.02 percent to 62.13 rand.

Construction group Aveng put on 1.43 percent to 42.50 rand and Murray & Roberts gained 2.20 percent to 58.56 rand, but WBHO lost 1.63 percent to 120.31 rand.

Among telecommunications groups, MTN Group was unchanged at 122.50 rand and Telkom firmed 4.62 percent to 45.25 rand, but Vodacom eased 20 cents to 55.50 rand.