South African stocks opened in the black on Monday after taking direction from higher Eastern markets, which gained momentum in the wake of a positive close on Wall Street, and also higher resources prices.

At 9.26am the JSE all share index had gained 1.11 percent, with resources up 1.64 percent, gold miners adding 2.24 percent and platinum producers collecting 0.98 percent.

Banks advanced 1.31 percent, financials rose 1.00 percent and industrials strengthened 0.56 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.46 to the dollar from 7.50 when the JSE closed on Friday. Gold was quoted at $1106.90 an ounce from $1096.60 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1358 an ounce, from $1340 at its previous close.

"We are up on the back of Eastern markets. The dollar has weakened and that supports commodity prices - which spilled over into the resource sector," a local trader said.

"Resources are also lifting us higher. The gold index in particular is up on the higher gold price.

"We are up on world markets. Since we are a commodity-based economy, the weak dollar is supporting commodity prices and resources are leading us higher," he said.

Dow Jones Newswire reported that General Electric and Starbucks paced a move higher for stocks on Friday, though a morning report showing US unemployment broke above 10 percent last month weighed on commodities prices and kept any stock gains muted.

For Friday, the DJIA gained 17.46 points, or 0.17 percent, to 10,023.42, marking its third-consecutive session in the green. With the move, the index snapped a two-week losing streak. The blue-chip measure climbed 310.69, or 3.2 percent, this week.

Gains in the index were led by General Electric, up 90 cents, or 6.2 percent, to 15.33, as the industrial conglomerate got a boost from a couple of analyst upgrades of the company to outperform and reports of progress in GE's efforts to sell its NBC Universal unit to Comcast.

Still, the stock and commodities markets remained under pressure as the Labour Department said US unemployment rose by more than expected in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast. While a positive revision for September's nonfarms payrolls helped some of the market's concern, the report's overall tone revived many of the economic fears that have been prevalent among traders for months.

Following the report, commodities prices plummeted, with crude oil dropping 2.75 percent. In turn, this pushed energy companies into the red. Pacing the decline in the sector, Sunoco lost 2.91, or 9.4 percent, to 28.21, after the oil company swung to a third-quarter loss on a host of charges and weak demand for oil-based fuels and chemicals.

Asian shares traded mostly higher on Monday after modest gains on Wall Street Friday.

The Nikkei ended up 0.2 percent and the Hang Seng had last added up 1.1 percent.

European bourses are likely to start higher as investors view recent labour market data in the US and Europe as evidence that central banks and governments will keep their stimulative stances for some time.