Around the World's Markets: Johannesburg

THE INTEREST-RATE outlook continues to dominate the Johannesburg market, and yields on the R150 bond fell from 16 per cent to 15.63 per cent after money-supply growth slowed sharply in September. The all-share index gained 0.67 per cent but ended below the day's highs.

Analysts are urging that prime interest rates should be cut from their 24.5 per cent level. Profit-taking in gold shares affected the gold index, but Gold Fields shares gained 55 cents to R40.45 after third-quarter earnings quadrupled.