Days of thunder (29.6.04)

Nico Kelder, economist at the Efficient Group reports that the reason for the weaker market was the thundering currency. The rand trampled the majors and gained around 2%.

The dollar remained stable after the transfer of power in Iraq yesterday, perhaps suggesting that markets approved of the transfer.

Local bond yields remained stable but commodities weakened - gold declined by 0.32%, platinum by 1.7%, and oil dropped 3.6%!

European markets traded higher yesterday, while US markets traded slightly weaker. The Far East is in negative territory with the Hang Seng dropping 1.3% so far this morning.

We expect that the currency will continue to dominate the trading locally.