MONDAY, 6.30PM:
THE financial index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was pushed to its ninth consecutive record high on Monday, and its good figures were emulated by the industrial and all share indices.
Gold shares, however, were held down by the poor gold price. The financial index’s fever was maintained by rumours of mergers and acquisitions, despite renewed worries about Asia’s stability.
At the close the all gold index had fallen 14,4 points to 815,4. The industrial index had climbed 48,9 points to 7 878,9, the financial index, 120 points to 11 819,3 and the all share index, 40,2 points to 6 697,2.
Shares worth R797,65m changed hands.
Most Far Eastern markets suffered on Monday; the IMF has rejected an Indonesian plan for the protection of its currency.
Bonds strengthened on Monday. At 4pm, the benchmark R150 government long bond was quoted at a 13,35% yield — four basis points better than Friday. The R150 traded in a range of 13,405% to to 13,35%. The longer-dated R153 bond was last three basis points better at 13,49%.
At 4pm the rand was quoted at R4,9400/30 to the dollar, after a quiet day’s trade.
“The rand was under a bit of pressure earlier along with some of the South East Asian currencies, but with New York off today for a holiday it has been pretty quiet,” a rand trader said.
Gold was last at $298,65 after settling on $297,70 for the London morning fix.