Flattish

The JSE Securities Exchange closed flat on Friday, gaining 0.6% for the week, as the negative effect of the stronger rand offset the positive influence of international markets.

Gerbrand Smit, analyst at the Efficient Group says that the appreciation of the rand led to Platinum shedding 2.63% and while IT stocks dropped 1.5%. The currency strengthened against all the majors.

The latter due to the softer dollar and the decision of the Reserve Bank keeping the REPO rate at 7.5% on Thursday.

Commodities were also affected by the softer dollar as the gold price gained half of its weekly increase of 1.5% on Friday (0.74%). The oil price jumped 0.62% to record a total gain of 3.2% for the week.

The Dow Jones gained 0.43% and the Nasdaq 1.15% fuelled by a weaker dollar mostly.

In Europe the CAC 40 (+1.17%) in France joined the equities party and proved it could also outperform the FTSE and the DAX that both gained 0.8%, gaining on average 2% for the week. In the East this morning markets are currently trading in the black, jumping around 1.0% higher.

We expect positive GDP data to be released tomorrow by StatsSA that should provide markets with better direction for the quarter.

However the further strengthening of the rand is a possibility and rand-hedge stocks could come under pressure for the week, hopefully the romance in the air today can push the markets higher.