A good day

Nico Kelder reports that the rand gained more than 1.5% against the majors.

Nearly all the sectors closed in the black, the rand hedges and resources were the exceptions. South African bond yields followed the currency better, gaining 5 points.

The good local performance was largely a result of the better than expected inflation data. European markets closed up more than 1 percent up yesterday when crude oil prices eased to below $50.

This reduced fears that energy costs would hurt economic growth and corporate earnings.

The US markets also closed higher gaining more than a percent to close above the 10 000 level yesterday.

A combination of better than expected earnings reported from Boeing and Procter & Gamble and improved US oil inventories supported their market.

In the East the Hang Seng and Nikkei are currently trading higher by 2.20% and 1.84% respectively. Locally we expect markets to have a great day.