Turnaround...

Banking (+1.22%) and retail (+1.18%) stocks were the only significant gainers on the market.

Gerbrand Smit, analyst at the Efficient group says that the result of the bitter struggle between Gold Fields (-3.97%) and Harmony (-6.34%) led to noteworthy slumps in their prices.

The rand strengthened fairly against the dollar after October inflation data were released yesterday. The yearly changes were CPI (+2.40%) and CPIX (4.20%).

The euro reached an all-time high against the dollar after a mixed batch of US economic data did little to ease heavy selling pressure. Gold (+0.56%) were steady at the $450/oz level with oil (+0.83%) almost unchanged.

The lower than expected unemployment claims in the US pulled their markets into the red with the Nasdaq (+0.88%) the biggest winner. European stock markets closed mixed with the CAC 40 (-0.51%) again the loser in the region.

Currently the Asian stocks are down with Japan’s Nikkei stock average of 225 issues surging by 0.36%. We expect positive day, albeit only just. Gold and platinum stocks should be the main drivers.