The all share indexed closed 1.31% lower today to reach the 30 639.950 point mark. This is the lowest the all share index has been since April this year. Analysts say the reason for todays drop was largely due to offshore fund selling ahead of the central banks decision on interest rates expected tomorrow (Thursday). All eyes on the market will be on Tito Mboweni to see if he increases interest rates and if so by how much. Many, including us at TheRandToday.com, predict interest rates to go up by 100 basis points.

Resources fell 1.80%, and the gold and platinum mining indices were down 2.82% and 1.92% respectively. Banks lost 0.88%, financials slumped 0.92% and industrials were 0.74% in the red.

On the rand front; the local currency continued to soften against major currencies and broke through the R8/$ mark today.  When the JSE closed today, the rand was trading at R8.02/$ from R7.92 when the JSE closed on Tuesday.

The price of oil is also being closely monitored; Brent crude futures were last trading at $134.05 per barrel, up 2.31%.

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