MONDAY, 6.30PM:
INVESTORS speculating that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates quickly in the new year bought strongly into banking stocks on Monday, pushing the financial index up 115,6 points to 9 976,1. The same view on interest rates firmed the bond market by 13 points, with the yield on the R150 bond at 13,70%.
The all gold index rose 3,7 points to 843,8 and the all share index added 39,3 points to 6 130,3.
But with most traders still on summer holidays, volumes were well down, with R341,76m traded, not much more than a third of the R907,59m traded on the last day the JSE was opened, Christmas Eve. The rand was at R4,8615 to the dollar, unchanged from the Christmas Eve close, with very little trade, and not much expected until next week.
Gold was last at $293,45 an ounce compared with Friday’s London afternoon fix of $296,25 and the New York close of $294,35.
FUEL PRICES TO DROP
The prices of diesel and petrol should fall by as much as five cents per litre in the new year, the Automobile Association said on Monday. The AA said daily updates on the retail price of liquid fuel indicate an over-recovery of between four and five cents per litre during December on petrol and diesel. It attributed the over-recoveries to considerable movements in product prices over this period. The Central Energy Fund is expected to make the monthly fuel price adjustments with effect from January 7, 1998.