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Rand hits new 13-yr low on US rate hike hopes
March 9, 2015--The rand has hit a new 13-year low against the dollar, after investors sold off emerging market
currencies amid expectations of an imminent interest rate hike in the US.
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Source: FIN24
JSE surges on financial and industrial stocks
March 6, 2015--The All-share index has hit yet another new high as financial and industrial shares pushed the JSE
higher by midday.
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Source: FIN24
Rand falls to 13-year low after US jobs data
March 6, 2015--The rand has fallen to a 13-year low and government bonds also slid sharply, as emerging markets are heavily sold off after US job numbers
strengthened the case for the Fed to hike interest rates.
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Source: FIN24
SA stocks gain, Standard Bank jumps on dividend
March 5, 2015--SA stocks have ended higher, with Standard Bank among the top gainers on the blue-chip index
after the lender declared a better-than-expected dividend payout.
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Source: FIN24
Rand weakens after ECB unveils stimulus details
March 5, 2015--The rand has weakened against the dollar as the European Central Bank's announcement detailing
its $1trn buying programme failed to halt the greenback's strong run.
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Source: FIN24
Rand falls to 3-week low on economy woes
March 4, 2015--The rand has hit a three-week low as the US currency strengthened and the deputy central bank governor warned that domestic
economic growth continued to disappoint.
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Source: FIN24
Directionless JSE still in consolidation mode
March 3, 2015--The JSE seriously lacks direction at the moment, with major indices continuing to drift lower as
investors seek trading opportunities.
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Source: FIN24
Rand recovers after weakening on downgrade alert
March 3, 2015--The rand has firmed after tumbling to two-and-a-half week lows earlier when rating's agency Fitch
warned that South Africa could lose its investment grade status.
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Source: FIN24
S&P Dow Jones Indices-Africa Index Dashboard
March 2, 2015--South African-listed companies pushed the S&P All Africa to a healthy 3.4% gain in February. Equity markets in Kenya and Zimbabwe also improved on a good start to the year with further gains (3.9% and 2.9%, respectively).
February was another tough month for West Africa, with Nigeria adding a further 2.2% to already material year-to-date losses. And despite agreeing a $1bn loan from the IMF to revive the economy near month end, Ghana's markets also fell (-4.7%). However the wooden spoon goes to Egypt, where legal uncertainty over an election due later this month concerned investors and saw the S&P Egypt BMI fall by 5.4%.
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Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
IMF Working paper-Remittances and Macroeconomic Volatility in African Countries
March 2, 2015--Summary: This paper investigates the channels through which remittances affect macroeconomic volatility in African countries using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model augmented with financial frictions. Empirical results indicate that remittances-as a share of GDP-have a significant smoothing impact on output volatility but their impact on consumption volatility is somewhat small.
Furthermore, remittances are found to absorb a substantial amount of GDP shocks in these countries. An investigation of the theoretical channels shows that the stabilization impact of remittances essentially hinges on two channels: (i) the size of the negative wealth effect on labor supply induced by remittances and, (ii) the strength of financial frictions and the ability of remittances to alleviate these frictions.
view the IMF Working paper-Remittances and Macroeconomic Volatility in African Countries
Source: IMF
