April Marked By Upbeat Corporate News And Index Records

April saw a fresh string of records on the Amsterdam Exchanges NV. Midway through the month the Amsterdam EOE-index battered through the magic 550 points barrier, although turnover levels could not be maintained at the high levels of the previous month. Key factors influencing this month's positive sentiment were the declining trend in interest rates and the significant rally of the U.S. dollar. The dollar price topped 1.70 guilders. On April 18 the Dutch central bank De Nederlandsche Bank announced a 10 basis point cut in the special advances rate to 2.7% in the wake of official rate cuts by Germany's Bundesbank. Even more importantly, the DNB also lowered the key Dutch secured loans rate by half a percentage point to a historic low of two percent. Rising prices on the bond market and concomitantly lower yields created ample opportunity for the share market to rise further. The effective return on the latest 10 year government bond fell by 0.2 percentage points in April to 6.26%.