Our unique R-100 Index climbed by 3.4% in the trading month of February. After two months of sub-1% falls, the Index closed at 1117.49 on 03 March, 2006, topping its previous best of 1085.77 registered on 02 December last year.

North American technology stocks lead the way with a rise of 7.5% in the region. This despite the fact that heavyweights such as Intel and Microsoft and Internet darlings like Google, Yahoo!, Amazon were down on the month. In their place, core tech companies like HP, Cisco, Oracle and Sun more than compensated, while carriers were up as well in the shape of AT&T, BellSouth, SprintNextel and Verizon (nb: the R-100 was compiled before news of AT&T-BellSouth broke).

This strong growth was dented somewhat by a 2.89% fall in the Asia-Pacific region. Of the 20 stocks included in the R-100, a total of 17% were down. China Mobile and Singapore Telecom were the two notable exceptions to that negative trend.

Happily, Europe was able to ensure an overall surge in the Index. European shares were up 3.07%, more or less wiping out its 3.1% January losses. Top performers included manufacturers such as Nokia and Siemens and carriers such as Deutsche Telekom, BT and, with a late gain thanks to the possible sale of its Japanese business, Vodafone.

It’s reasonable to assume that news of the AT&T-BellSouth deal has given an early boost to this month’s performance of the Index.
Jim Chalmers