MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 6.00pm.
SOUTH African markets held onto early gains on Wednesday as world markets rose and sentiment turned positive. The possibility of Japanese debt restructuring and global interest rate cuts cheered Asian and US markets. The rand strengthened to below the R5,90 mark as the dollar weakened against the mark and yen.
The Nikkei exploded 803 points and the Hang Seng followed suit for 180 points. The Dow opened 90 points up, and despite European bourses losing ground, prevailing sentiment in local markets was sunny.
The all share hung on to 13 points of its gains. The index closed at 5130 although it hit much higher levels in intraday trade. Industrials slipped 38 points to 5663, again despite having hit better numbers in the morning.
Financials picked up 129 to finish at 7501 on stronger bonds and a 10 cent hike in the rand, while all gold climbed 48 points on the back of a $2 rise in the price of gold. The gold shares composite wound up at 1256.
Gold traded at $298,25, a gain of $2 over Tuesday’s level.
Bonds softened since the morning rally, and the benchmark R150 stood at 17,02%, 27 basis points worse off than the open.
The rand gained sharply on dollar selling. Interest rate differentials drove the dollar lower against the yen and deutsche mark. As traders unwound dollar positions, the rand benefitted, closing at R5,8925, a ten cent gain from Tuesday’s close.