A big day

Stefan van Rooyen at the Efficient Group reports that investors supported Sanlam (+2.02%) and Remgro (+2.75%) in their decision to sell their respective stakes in Absa (+3.13%).

Anglo American (+4.90%) was also on the to-buy list as its price bounced.

The weaker rand also gave support to other gold counters. The dollar and euro bullied the rand into submission by taking 10 cents and 16 cents respectively from its value. About 41% of the total mining workforce is employed in the gold-mining sector.

The current stubbornly low price is not a good prospect for employees as many mines are currently being closed down. Opec is close to reinstating a price band for oil (+1.29%), working the same as the one which was set in 2000 at $22-28 per barrel.

US traders remain optimistic with their equity market closing on average 0.55% in the black yesterday. In Europe the DAX (-0.43%) was the biggest loser as a government report showed that industrial production fell for a second month in March. In Asia the Nikkei 225 (-0.19%) stock average is currently 21 points down.

The effects of the Barclays/Absa deal on the exchange rate are expected to be the focus of local equities.