SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Wednesday 4.45pm
THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange fought its way back after a relatively volatile day’s trade to close in positive territory on Wednesday, despite an earlier blip as the market fell in sympathy with European markets.
The JSE’s gains came later in the afternoon when United States markets jumped higher in early trade as the technology board rallied, boosted by stronger-than-expected earnings from Microsoft.
At close of trade the overall market index had gained 0,33%, with the industrial and financial indices gaining 0,11% and 0,10% respectively.
Gold proved an anchor on the market for the second day with the gold board dipping 0,22% as despite vary little movement in the gold price that was seen hovering around the $308,70 an ounce mark at around 4.30pm. Dealers said that gold shares could be dipping because of inactivity from bullion.
The rand also showed very little movement on the day as it held at R6,12 to the dollar. It lost ground against the pound however, to trade at R10,21 at 4.30pm. The bond market put in some strong gains, however, with the key R150 firming to a 14,27% yield.
On international markets, Asia rallied after the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed on Tuesday after investor’s fears on rising interest rates were waylaid by the as-expected Consumer Price Index. Japan’s Nikkei Dow climbed 1,63% on the day while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rocketed 3,00% as investors piled into the market.
European share prices opened lower on Wednesday as investors showed some concern over Wall Street’s late retreat — despite its positive close. By mid-afternoon most of the bourses had recovered their losses with only Frankfurt’s DAX still bearish.