From Reuters Africa

South African stocks edged higher for a second straight session on Friday, led by coal producer Exxaro which flagged full-year losses more benign than analysts had forecast.

Exxaro, which also has interests in iron ore and base metals, said it would swing to a loss due to a write down in a Congo Republic iron ore project, but a further fall was capped by good performance in its coal arm.

“The market was expecting it to be much lower than that,” said Bruno Van Eck, a trader at Standard Bank Stockbroking. “So from an analyst perspective it beat estimates.”

Exxaro’s shares jumped 3.6 percent to 112 rand on Friday. They fell about 30 percent in 2014 as the price of coal slumped.

The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index was up 0.35 percent at 46,880 and the broader All-share index edged 0.38 percent higher to 53,035.

Food producer Rhodes Food Group was the biggest gainer on the All-Share index, rising 6 percent after it announced it had acquired two food companies.

Read more at Reuters Africa