The market was relatively quiet today due to it being a public holiday in the UK and USA. The JSE closed in the positive though, with the all share index gaining 0.55% at the close. Resources were up 1.35% so to were financials by 0.14%. Most eyes on the JSE today were on MTN who are still trying to sort out a possible deal with India’s Reliance Communications. MTN had initial been in talks with Bharti Airtel, also from India, but those talks have since terminated. Amongst all this uncertainty with MTN, their shares ended 5.7% lower today to close at R148.07 a share.

On the currency front, the rand was bid at R7.69/$ from a previous close of R7.67. This is an important week for the South African markets as Statistics South Africa will release the Q1 gross domestic product growth figures at 11:30 on Tuesday (27 May) and inflation figures on Wednesday (28 May). The results of these figures will go a long way to determining the market sentiment especially the inflation figures which could force interest rates to rise.

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