Friday in Brief

The local bourse followed Asian markets lower in early trade as the lower commodity prices weighed on the markets. The JSE all share index started the trading session 0.5% down with all major sectors pointing south.
By midday our markets continued to trade in the red as traders exercised extreme caution ahead of the release of US employment data. US data came in better than expected and the local bourse rallied, eventually ending the trading day 0.94% in the black with all major sectors higher than Thursday.
At the close the rand was trading at R6.65 to the dollar, gold was bid at $1,495/oz and platinum was quoted at $1,790/oz.

Friday's Close on Key World Markets

Key World Markets

Markets
Dow	12,638.70 (+0.43%)
S&P	1,340.20 (+0.38%)
FTSE	5,976.77 (+0.96%)
Nikkei	9,788.54 (-0.72%) [08:00]
Shanghai	2,872.23 (+0.29%) [08:00]
SA Top 40	28,324.46 (+1.05%)

Currencies and Commodities

Morning Prices

Currencies
USD/ZAR	6.69
GBP/ZAR	10.97
EUR/ZAR	9.62
Commodities
Gold	$1501.71
Platinum	$1794.50
Brent Crude	$110.38

Expected Catalysts

On the economic calendar we expect Merchandise Trade figures (8am) from Germany and Halifax HPI (9am) from the UK with US announcements relatively quiet today.



The above comments do not constitute investment advice and IG Markets accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.