SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm.
LOCAL stock dragged through Friday to close slightly softer ahead of the welcome weekend.
Dealers described the day as dull and directionless, with under R1-billion volume traded. Dealers said the calm is fairly typical after a futures close-out, and most dealers were squaring their position ahead of the weekend.
Without finding its own beat, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange closely tracked the S&P futures for most of the day, climbing slightly in the morning before dipping in the afternoon session. Only financial stock closed the day in positive territory. Dealers said that the sector, which has taken a severe pounding recently, is offering some bargains as some strong stock is selling at a third of the price it was at two months ago.
Global markets in general had a flat day, global markets, too, are mainly easier today with London down 0,68% at lunchtime and Paris off 1,2%. That mirrors the 130 point drop (1,71%) to 7 446 in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index. Tokyo, however, improved against the general trend with the Nikkei Dow Index rising 124 points (0,89%) to 13 983 today.
Bonds gained some ground on the day, with the key R150 government bond picking up around 20 basis points to close the week on a, 18,30% yield. The rand held its own, gaining one cent against the dollar to R6,14 by 4.00pm.