WM Market Update – April 2015
Global
First quarter company results in the U.S. came in better than expected in spite of dollar strength and this resulted in the benchmark S&P 500 gaining 1%. Further influencing factors were a recovery in crude oil prices together with a pick-up in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.
Domestic
In spite of growing concern around continuing labour unrest and the ongoing crisis at Eskom in terms of load-shedding, the JSE/ALSI continued to astound by reaching a new all-time high during the month, of 55188.34 points before closing down at 54440.43. The Index gained 4.33% and in total return terms 4.70%. Market volatility declined from 11.0 to 10.43.
