Up, but down.

Local equity markets closed higher yesterday gaining 0.43% despite lower world markets.

Nico Kelder, economist at the Efficient Group reportsd that only the construction sector recorded a slight decline with resource stocks making the most of the day.

The currency weakened against the majors. South African bond yields closed mixed with the shorter dated R153 weaker and the longer dated R157 stronger. Commodities traded mixed with oil shedding 0.88%, gold gaining 0.35% and platinum lower by 0.47%.

European markets closed marginally lower to flat. In the US markets struggled as investors dissected Alan Greenspan congress testimony with Oracle’s downgrade not helping much.

This morning the markets in the Far East are weaker with the Nikkei declining by 1% and the Hang Seng by 0.08% so far. We expect local equities to remain under pressure unless the currency weakens today.