By Sherilee Bridge South African near-dated futures ended weaker on Tuesday as the local stocks felt the pain of the soaring crude oil price, global inflation concerns and uncertainty over the South African Reserve Bank's interest rate decision later this week. The near-dated Alsi contract slipped into the red by 475 points, or 1.60%, to end at 29,265. Shortly after the futures market closed, the rand was bid at 7.97 to the dollar from 7.88 on Monday, while gold was quoted at US$871.45 a troy ounce from US$891.90/oz previously. "Futures traded on the downside the whole day on the back of weaker commodity prices, particularly for gold and platinum which were US$20 and US $28 lower respectively," noted a derivatives trader. "We attribute the pressure on commodities to the US Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that there are unlikely to be any more cuts in interest rates in the US. This strengthened the dollar against all major currencies, and for those who invested in commodities as a dollar hedge, there appears to be no reason to hold on to these positions if the dollar retains its strength," he added. A total of 63,914 Alsi contracts changed hands compared with 56,726 contracts on Monday, a Safex official said. Source: I-Net Bridge |
