Going up

The talk of the market yesterday was SABMiller (9.39%) purchasing a controlling interest in the second largest brewer in Latin America, Bavaria. The next largest gainer was City Lodge group (7.55%) which spurred most of the blue chips to record increases

The Efficient Group says that as with every party there are some who attempt to dampen the mood, the ring leaders of this group was the big boy Anglo American (-1.41%), MTN Group (-2.90%) and Discovery (-2.12%).

The recent wild punches thrown by the currency against the majors has faded and resulting in the rand dropping 3 to 6 cents against the majors. Gold (-0.27%) and oil (-0.54%) slipped yesterday while platinum (0.35%) managed to keep its nose clean.

US markets rallied as Merrill Lynch and IBM released positive earnings results. European markets were generally positive, with the drop in the FTSE being attributed to the reweighing of Royal Dutch/Shell keeping money from UK blue chips.

The DAX (1.08%) was supported by 10 month high investor confidence. Higher confidence in Germany combined with speculation that Pepsi might purchase Danone helped the French (1.39%) to trade with some flair.

The 9.5% second quarter growth recorded in China was higher than expected, indicating that the Chinese are nowhere near slowing down. This news should support commodities, thus it is expected that the resource index would be the main beneficiaries in today’s trading.

Business Day:

* Rand slides on US Fed’s bright view of economy

* Momentum CEO quits amid talk of Aflife buyout

Business Report:

* Companies target million from Kyoto

* Residential rent prices grow by 8%

Mail and Guardian online:

* SA investors encouraged to take funds offshore

* Amazon.com opens software centre in Cape Town

Moneyweb:

* SABMiller hops $1.7bn in a day

* Aflease buys an AngloGold project

Sake-Beeld:

* Petrolprys kan volgende maand met 25c/l styg

* Wetgewing is ván die goggas wat baba Telkom bang maak