DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.00pm.
THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange climbed nearly 2% on Tuesday, helped by a steadily falling yield on the R150, well below 16% at 4pm, and a steady rand-dollar exchange rate.
According to Quintus Kilburn of Barnard Jacobs Mellet, the steadiness of the European bourses — now fueled by a rates cut from the Italian central bank — is a strong contributor to the JSE’s current stability.
On the JSE, early futures-related trade shifted later as institutions began to take an interest. The markets now await Wednesday’s release of the Producer Price Index and money supply figures for fresh direction.
The gold price was pushed upwards slightly by European interest, and the local index was pushed up by some overseas buying.
In the East, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and Singapore shares leapt ahead, but Tokyo’s Nikkei was pushed down by the release of record unemployment figures, and only news of government plans to sell stocks next month turned around the fall.