The JSE edged 131 points higher in early trade on Wednesday with resources leading the upside in the wake of a slip in the US dollar, a local equities trader said.

At 9.18am the JSE all share index had collected 0.51 percent, with resources adding 1.38 percent, platinum producers up 1.07 percent and gold miners firming 5.59 percent.

Banks were flat, down 0.08 percent, as were financials, down 0.02 percent, and industrials weakened 0.21 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.76 to the dollar from 7.85 when the JSE closed on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1083.50 a troy ounce from $1061.40 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1355.50 an ounce, from $1353 at its previous close.

"We are up this morning. The resources are looking better. The dollar took a slide overnight and pushed up some of the resource prices," the trader said.

"Gold stocks are one of the biggest gainers and they are pushing the market up a lot this morning, they are a big contribution to the gains.

"For the rest of the day I think we are likely to move sideways from here. I expect it to be a low volume day," he said.

Dow Jones Newswire reported that a buyout by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had Burlington Northern and a bevy of other transport stocks rallying on Tuesday, although analyst-induced declines for Intel, SanDisk and other chip stocks kept any market gains muted.

For Tuesday, the DJIA closed down 17.53 points, or 0.18 percent, to 9771.91, marking its second decline in three sessions.

Aside from the concern about the technology sector, the big news on the session was Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway's agreement to acquire control of Burlington Northern Santa Fe in a deal that values the railroad operator at $34 billion, plus $10 billion in debt.

The move for transports came despite a nearly 2 percent gain for crude oil prices that helped energy and materials stocks finish in the green.

Other indexes also fared better than the broad Dow, with the Standard & Poor's 500 up 2.53, or 0.24 percent, to 1045.41. The Nasdaq Composite rose 8.12, or 0.40 percent, to 2057.32.

Despite the slight gains, however, market participants noted that a bevy of economic concerns remain hanging over the stock market this week. Wednesday will mark the conclusion of a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. In addition, each of the next three sessions will provide data points on the current health of the labour market.

Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Wednesday, with gold miners outperforming, although many investors were on the sidelines ahead of the results of the Fed's policy meeting.

In Japan, the Nikkei ended 0.4 percent higher and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was last up 1.6 percent.

European stock markets are set to open higher after markets fell sharply on Tuesday, while investors renew doubts about the strength of the global recovery.