TUESDAY, 5.30PM:
FESTIVE cheer seemed to help recharge the JSE on Tuesday, where the gold index climbed another 19,2 points to 810,9 thanks to the advancing international bullion price. Gold shares have climbed 45,3 points since Friday’s close. The gold price reached $292,55 in London, with some dealers predicting that it could reach $300 before the year’s end. But it was the JSE’s financial index that performed best, with a 98,9 point surge to 9 892,4. And industrials were not far behind with 72,7 points, helping to take the all share index up 62,3 points, to 6 104,6.
The rand was last at R4,8590-20 to the dollar — from yesterday’s close of R4,8520-50. On the bond market, the benchmark government R150 gilt ended at 13,82% from 13,93% previously.
MONDAY, 5.30PM:
A RISING bullion price, spurred in part by fears of further Asian turmoil, helped JSE gold shares to jump 3,41% or 26,1 points to 791. Dealers seemed unsure whether the turnaround for gold after months of falling prices indicated a change in international sentiment, but either way, gold shares prospered for a change.
Trade was unusually busy for the start of the summer holiday season, but a huge and unexplained portfolio trade by international stockbrokers SBC Warburg — worth about R750m — took the day’s trade up to R1,286bn.
The rand slipped slightly to R4,8600-30 to the dollar from R4,8585-15/dlr at Friday’s close. But the rand recovered some ground against sterling and was last quoted at R8,0827 compared with R8,1137 on Friday.
NO NEW WEALTH TAX
The parliamentary finance committee has decided that there is no immediate need for changes to SA’s wealth taxes. In a report released on Monday, the committee said: “The feels that there is no urgent need for changes to the existing donations tax and estate duty regimes.” The Katz commission on tax reform had recommended that donations tax and estate duty be kept separate until sufficient resources are available at the SA Revenue Service to combine them into a single tax.
ZIM AIR STRIKE
ZIMBABWEAN air traffic controllers went out on strike on Monday demanding salary increases. Meanwhile, the government reported that senior officials and military controllers kept most scheduled services running on time.
FOREIGN SHARE PURCHASES UP
FOREIGNERS bought R78,1-million in shares last week, slightly more than the R66-million they bought in the same week in 1996. Foreigners have bought R25,43-billion in equities so far this year, almost five times as much as the R5,113-billion they bought over the same period last year, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange announced on Monday.