Marginal move

Gerbrand Smit analyst at the Efficient Group says that Retail (+1.12%) and IT (1.31%) stocks were of the few indices performing positive.

Individual stocks such as Kumba (+2.27%) and soon to be uranium miners, Aflease (+12.60%) entertained investors on a low volume trading day.

Strong dollar demand and unchanged interest rates by the European Central Bank (2.00%) and Bank of England (4.75%) led the rand to slip by 8- to 11 cents against the major currencies.

The oil price (+3.89%) edged higher after the US oil inventories were lower than expected, and also after the recent bad weather in the North Sea which hampered production.

US equity markets closed in the red. Not even the boost from Apple Computers (10.00%) could push the tech-laden Nasdaq (-1.05%) unto positive ground. European indices closed 0.30% higher across the board.

In the East the markets are currently trading mixed. Not much is expected today as the cricket should be more interesting than the markets.