The Carreras Group, buoyed by the upward tick in the market, traded at a 52- week high for two consecutive days this week but analysts cautioned against investors getting their hopes up prematurely.

On Monday, the tobacco distributor traded at $45.50 on a day which saw the main JSE Index advancing by 331.14 points to close the trading day at 85,424.84 points. It gained another ten cents a day later.

On Wednesday, the stock shot up by $2.40 to close trading at $48.00 helping to push the market index higher.

"Since the annual general meeting last week, there has been a renewed interest in the stock," said research manager at Mayberry Investments, Rex Shettlewood.

Shettlewood said investors might have been encouraged by the assertions of Carreras' chairman, Christopher Burton, that it was unlikely that the outcome of the ongoing $5.7 billion tax assessment battle with the Commissioner of Stamp Duty and Transfer Tax would be detrimental to the company.

"Plus the company's year-to-date sales of tobacco are ahead of last year's figures," he said.

The research manager said, despite small signs of upward movement on the JSE index, it was still too early to believe that it was emerging from the bear market.

"We still have small volumes, really nothing to write home about. The momentum is not there yet to cause a sustained increase in the index."

The broad JSE index gained just about 498 points yesterday to close trading at 86,012 points.

business@gleanerjm.com