WEDNESDAY, 5.00PM:
The bull trend on US markets helped spur industrial shares on the JSE on Wednesday, but the gold index fell below 1 000 points for the first time since the most recent contraction on Wall Street began in early August.
At the close the all gold index had dropped 8,9 points to 992,8. The industrial index, meanwhile, had added 65,1 points to 9 018,1, and this helped the all share index gain 44,6 points to 7 317,8.
Industrial stocks led the market up in early trade, firstly driven by the futures market, which had opened stronger on the back of the Dow’s single-day record 257,36 point, or 3,4%, bounce on Tuesday. Later, industrials retyraced their earlier gains, but a solid 27-point gain on the Dow in its first 30 minutes of trade on Wednesday helped them move stronger again.
Markets remain nervous about whether the Dow will continue its bull run or whether it will bounce back into a bear market.
The rand, meanwhile, was little changed against the dollar in late trade on Wednesday, hovering around the R4,70/$ level as it continued to track the US currency’s fortunes. At 4pm the local unit was quoted at R4,7015 to the dollar from R4,7020 at Tuesday’s close. It touched a best level of R4,6975 and a worst level of R4,7045.
Bonds ended little changed in fair trade on Wednesday after they followed US bonds stronger in after-hours trade on Tuesday. At 4pm the government R150 long bond was at a 14,25% yield from 14,26% at the previous close and a 14,295% yield late on Tuesday. The longer-dated R153 was 0,5 basis points better at a 14,375% yield and the Eskom 168 bond was last at a 14,58% yield from 14,57%. The R150 traded in a 14,30% to 14,225% range.
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM:
WALL STREET on Tuesday ignored fears of a crash in world markets to post a record single-day rise in the Dow Jones industrial index.
Market-friendly economic data precipitated a feeding frenzy, with the Dow ending the day 257,36 points, or 3,4%, up at 7 879,78. Before its rally on Tuesday, the Dow Jones index had lost about 8% from its closing high of 8 259,31 on August 6, including last week’s 265-point loss.
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