MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Friday 6.00pm.
WITH the Dow losing its early momentum to lose 74 points, the FTSE-100 down 100 and the DAX off 260 points, pressures on SA markets remained high Friday. A few Asian markets were closed due to China’s National Day and the Nikkei managed a small gain of 26 points to stay above the key 13000 mark.
Despite those pressures, most local indices made some gains Friday afternoon following a dismal open. The all share managed to gain 31 points to close at 4 958, while industrials also picked up 31 to finish at 5536. Thin trade and contradictory pressures put institutional investors on then sidelines.
Financials were the day’s big losers, dropping 207 points to close a dismal week at 6926, while all gold rocketed as the price of gold topped $300. The index jumped to 1282, a huge gain of 110 points.
Gold gained $1,40 to end the week at $301,25.
Bonds gained in light trading, climbing back 32 basis points to 17,70%. Short-covering before the weekend and positive US jobs data drove the market up, as well as the dollar slipping a bit against other currencies.
The rand held losses to three cents, staying in its expected range of R6,10 to R,620, and closing out the week at R6,115 to the dollar. The weakness of the dollar in world markets contributed to the rand’s mitigated losses as the currency basically followed the bond market.