Gold smacked

Stefan van Rooyen says that Edcon (-2.83%) and Foschini (-2.50%) got smacked by investors which resulted in the retail index shedding 1.81%.

Property loan stock company ApexHi’s A units (API) surged 4.42%. Not even a trade deficit of $61bn for February in the US could dampen the rally the dollar is currently having. The dollar strengthened by 1 cent against the euro.

The rand could only gain between 1 cent and 6 cents against the major currencies. The possible sale of 3 217 tons of gold (-0.07%) held by the IMF will be determined this month.

The IMF possess the world’s third largest gold stocks after the US and Germany. It is predicted that the price of gold may drop to $300/ounce if the IMF sells its gold stock.

Rising oil prices pose an increasing threat to global economic growth, the price of oil (-2.56%) dropped by over $1 recently. Analysts expected a trade deficit in the US of $59bn, the record overrun resulted in the equity market closing 0.12% down across the board.

Retailers dragged the FTSE 100 (-0.21%) down, but the DAX (-0.55%) lost the most ground in Europe. The recent friction between China and Japan left investors in the dark.

Currently the Asian equity markets are mixed. We expect a quiet day as investor will be reluctant to take any new positions before the MPC decision tomorrow.