BUZZ-Anglo American: Sale of Rustenburg mine wins market confidence

** Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) up nearly 6 pct after unit Amplats sells labour-intensive South African mines to bullion producer Sibanye Gold (Other OTC: SBGLF - news) for $331 mln

** Stock top gainer on FTSE-100 Index

** The miner has earmarked more assets for potential sale to support co's long-term debt target of $10-12 billion, compared with $11.5 billion at the end of June

** Sale of the Rustenburg mines substantially reduces the execution risk around AAL's disposal process, say Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) analysts

** Lower commodity prices have battered shares of Anglo and its peers as risks around the sector's indebtedness grew

** Anglo American has halved in value in the past year

** 5 of 27 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 13 "hold" and 9 "sell" or lower; their median PT is $12.98

** Anglo American shares are now up 11.1 pct since Friday's close, helped in part by Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) 's steps to curb copper production, and poised for their best 3-day run in more than 2 years

(aashika.jain@thomsonreuters.com)