About discounts and profit taking
MTN (-2.84%) and Telkom (1.57%) were punished on the back of the news that Vodacom slashed some of their tariffs.
Although most stocks closed lower there were some winners. Ceramic Industries jumped 4.35%, Imperial climbed 2.36% and Barloworld closed 1.49% higher.
On the currency market the traders did not do too much as the rand strengthened slightly against the pound. Gold (0.02%) and oil (0.74%) rose on Friday with platinum shedding 0.17%.
US markets closed weaker on Friday after Alan Greenspan gave a stern warning against the rising asset prices. Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the US and European markets with BP losing 1.3% as they evacuated their oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Far Eastern stocks slipped sharply lower this morning on the back of the sharply higher oil price. The oil prices are almost 6% higher from its close on Friday so far this morning. Our call for local market, hold on wwweeeeee!
