The rand remains on the back foot this morning despite the weaker US dollar and moderate gains on Wall Street. On the capital market, the yield on the R157 government bond ended yesterday at 8.48%.

US and European markets

US stocks rose yesterday after another round of solid economic reports, but pulled off session highs after the Federal Reserve warned about bank's loan losses. Stronger-than-expected data on manufacturing and pending home sales spurred a broad-based advance and soothed worries over the recovery's strength.

However, the Federal's critical comments about banks potential losses on commercial real estate loans caused investors to sell some financial shares. The Dow Jones climbed 77 points to 9 789. The Nasdaq Composite has edged up four points to 2 049. The S & P 500 collected seven points to 1 043.

Oil and financial stocks boosted European markets yesterday. London's FTSE 100 rose 60 points or 1.2% to 5 105. In Paris, the CAC 40 climbed 32 points to 3 639. Frankfurt's DAX gained 16 points to 5 431.

Asian markets

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region are weaker this morning. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng shaved off 153 points to 21 467. Sydney's ASX dipped 10 points to 4 530. Markets in Tokyo are closed for a public holiday.

Platinum is trading at $1352.50/oz and the spot price of Brent crude oil is easier at $75.77 a barrel.

Meanwhile, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan says South Africa expects to sign long-term supply contracts for its coal-fired power stations, including two new 4 800  Mega Watt plants, by the end of next year.