SA shares scale new peaks, Kumba Iron Ore top performer

JOHANNESBURG, April 22 (Reuters) – South African shares scaled new peaks on Wednesday, led by Kumba Iron Ore, which got an upward jolt from a spike in spot prices for its product.

Kumba, a unit of Anglo American, has been trading near 6-1/2 year lows on iron ore price woes. It's shares rose 3.5 percent to 133.22 rand, making it the top advancer among blue chips.

Spot iron ore jumped about 4 percent following a similar uptick in Chinese iron ore futures as the market stabilised following steep losses caused by a global glut.

South African shares of global mining house BHP Billiton, one of the world's leading producers of the key steel-making ingredient, also rose 2.4 percent to 270.98 rand.

The benchmark Top-40 index ended 0.36 percent higher at 47,997 after earlier hitting a record high of 48,088.18. The wider All-share index ended up 0.26 percent at a record close of 54,281.56.

Turnover was just slightly below average with 177 million shares changing hands, compared with last year's daily average of 183 million shares. (Reporting By Tendai Dube; Editing by James Macharia)