Morning report (10.2)

Local equities had a good day yesterday as the rand was slightly weaker during local trading hours, says Nico Kelder, economist at the Efficient Group.

However, the dollar weakened overnight against the euro helping the rand to close almost 1 percent stronger against the majors. Commodity prices also closed higher on the back of the weaker dollar.

European markets were up yesterday while the US markets were slightly negative. The negative sentiment was carried forward to the Far East this morning with both the Hang Seng and Nikkei trading lower.

We expect that the market will open weaker on the back of the stronger rand while the movements in the currency will dictate the rest of the trading day.