Publications
Partners
Johannesburg/London - The rand lost over 1% to the dollar in the late afternoon session, tracking a vulnerable euro ahead of a European Union summit later on Wednesday.
The dollar gained momentum to push the rand past the R8-level and the local unit hit a session low of R8.0140/$. It was trading 0.96% weaker at R8.0038/$ by 1513 GMT, off a close of R7.9275.
South African stocks ended off their session highs on Wednesday, tracking global equities on waning hopes that European leaders would come up with a credible plan to resolve the region’s debt crisis.
The JSE Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] blue-chip index edged up 0.3% to 28 436.37, after rising to a high of 28 436.37 - a level that put in the black for 2011. The broader All Share [JSE:J203] index gave up 0.2% to 31 736.62.
“People are starting to doubt that European leaders will come up with a comprehensive plan to tackle the crisis,” Martin Lentsoane, a trader at NEWS trading, said.
Gold hit one-month highs on Wednesday in its longest stretch of gains in over two months as investors once again sought the safety of bullion.
Global stocks eased while the euro retreated ahead of a European Union summit that has investors both hopeful and uneasy about the prospects for resolving the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.
Investor optimism was boosted after Germany’s lower house of parliament approved a motion to strengthen the eurozone rescue fund, a vote that provided Chancellor Angela Merkel with the mandate she needs to negotiate when the EU summit convenes.
Optimism also gained after the incoming head of the European Central Bank threw the eurozone a lifeline hours before the summit by signaling the bank would go on buying the bonds of troubled countries to combat market turmoil.
Skittishness
But global stocks turned negative, retreating from gains of 1% or more and the euro slid almost 0.7% paring similar earlier gains, as skittishness and speculation about the summit over-powered optimism.
“It’s all over the place. No one really knows what’s going on. There are leaks and counter-leaks,” said a trader of Bund futures. “Volumes are quite low and someone doing a little buying would be enough to send (futures) back up again.”
Bund futures hit a session high at 135.77, up 51 ticks on the day, after dipping in and out of negative territory earlier in the session. US Treasury debt pared losses.
Wall Street pared gains and mostly turned lower. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 12.04 points, or 0.10%, at 11 718.66. But the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 3.52 points, or 0.29%, at 1 225.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28.21 points, or 1.07%, at 2 610.21.
MSCI’s all-country world equity index and the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares both fell about 0.3%.
Oil futures also gave up early gains on investor jitters that the summit may fail to deliver a decisive resolution.
The dollar gained momentum to push the rand past the R8-level and the local unit hit a session low of R8.0140/$. It was trading 0.96% weaker at R8.0038/$ by 1513 GMT, off a close of R7.9275.
South African stocks ended off their session highs on Wednesday, tracking global equities on waning hopes that European leaders would come up with a credible plan to resolve the region’s debt crisis.
The JSE Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] blue-chip index edged up 0.3% to 28 436.37, after rising to a high of 28 436.37 - a level that put in the black for 2011. The broader All Share [JSE:J203] index gave up 0.2% to 31 736.62.
“People are starting to doubt that European leaders will come up with a comprehensive plan to tackle the crisis,” Martin Lentsoane, a trader at NEWS trading, said.
Gold hit one-month highs on Wednesday in its longest stretch of gains in over two months as investors once again sought the safety of bullion.
Global stocks eased while the euro retreated ahead of a European Union summit that has investors both hopeful and uneasy about the prospects for resolving the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.
Investor optimism was boosted after Germany’s lower house of parliament approved a motion to strengthen the eurozone rescue fund, a vote that provided Chancellor Angela Merkel with the mandate she needs to negotiate when the EU summit convenes.
Optimism also gained after the incoming head of the European Central Bank threw the eurozone a lifeline hours before the summit by signaling the bank would go on buying the bonds of troubled countries to combat market turmoil.
Skittishness
But global stocks turned negative, retreating from gains of 1% or more and the euro slid almost 0.7% paring similar earlier gains, as skittishness and speculation about the summit over-powered optimism.
“It’s all over the place. No one really knows what’s going on. There are leaks and counter-leaks,” said a trader of Bund futures. “Volumes are quite low and someone doing a little buying would be enough to send (futures) back up again.”
Bund futures hit a session high at 135.77, up 51 ticks on the day, after dipping in and out of negative territory earlier in the session. US Treasury debt pared losses.
Wall Street pared gains and mostly turned lower. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 12.04 points, or 0.10%, at 11 718.66. But the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 3.52 points, or 0.29%, at 1 225.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28.21 points, or 1.07%, at 2 610.21.
MSCI’s all-country world equity index and the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares both fell about 0.3%.
Oil futures also gave up early gains on investor jitters that the summit may fail to deliver a decisive resolution.
