Half time…

The Efficient Group reports that the JSE’s star performers were the overseas players BHP Billiton (+1.41%) and Anglo American (+1.34%), the poor performers were retailers Shoprite (-2.66%) and Woolworths (-1.90%).

The markets were supported by a rand that slipped and dropped between 12 and 17 cents against the large players. The rand were not the only loser as the dollar punched 2 cents from the euro. The stronger dollar resulted in weaker gold and platinum prices while oil ignored the dollar and jumped 3.71%.

The Dow Jones closed higher (0.28%) ahead of the 4th of July holiday as consumer sentiment and manufacturing data showed improvements.

European markets closed higher with the FTSE (0.93%) reaching a three year high as heavyweights such as BP, Shell, and Standard Chartered made strong moves higher.

Toyota and Sony are the main drivers of the Nikkei’s gains this morning, while the Hang Seng is currently lower after it was closed on Friday.

We expect a quiet trading day as the US markets are closed and the lack of market moving economic data this week.