An apple a day…
The Efficient Group says that South African based international forest products company, Sappi (+4.00%) sparked as a brighter outlook for the paper sector is anticipated.
One of the major downward movers was banking group, FirstRand (-2.70%), dragging the banking index (-1.08%) into the red.
The rand traded relatively flat on the currency market yesterday. The biggest gainer was the pound as it became 3 cents more expensive.
It is estimated that the listed South African gold companies had a market cap of around R137bn during October last year. But, with a slightly lower gold price (-0.07%) and a weaker rand, the current market cap is estimated at around R106bn; the biggest reasons are the drop in the share prices of AngloGold and Gold Fields. They plummeted by 13% and 30% respectively.
The oil price (+0.54%) traded around the $50 per barrel level yesterday. American equity markets closed strong,
Apple Computer (+5.89%) boosted the performance of the Nasdaq (+0.50%), after the announcement that they might start using Intel processors in their computers.
Germany’s benchmark DAX index (+1.06%) outperformed the other European indices; the year end target is 4800 points. The Asian markets are currently mixed, the Nikkei 225 (-0.20%) slouching in the background. A quiet trading day is expected as traders will hold their breath ahead of the CPI data tomorrow.
