Go Bokke

After the preceding declining days, the bulls returned with a vengeance. BHP Billiton (1.85%), Kumba (1.36%) and Harmony (1.38%) made the most of the day.

The financial stocks showed that they were treated unfairly during the week and gained between 1% and 2%.

The currency was slightly weaker against the dollar and pound while it gained ground against the euro. Gold (-0.19%) and platinum (-0.56%) were adversely affected by the stronger dollar (-0.08%) while oil ignored this and climbed 1.92%.

The Efficient Group says that the ruling against Merck (-7.70%) placed a damper on the US markets while IBM (2.00%) and Caterpillar (3.10%) tried the best to push the market higher.

The European markets were stronger on Friday after Sanofi-Aventis (3.00%) reported positive trails for their chemotherapy drug and after oil stocks gained some. Daimler Chrysler (3.20%) rose ahead of their 1 &3 finish in the Turkish GP.

In the Far East the markets are rising in unison with buyers climbing into banks, steel and shipping firms. The mood of local traders will be high after the win of the Springboks, the question is if it will be enough to keep the market in the black.