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Stocks dip on growth worries, rand falls
October 3, 2012--Emerging stocks dipped on Wednesday and the commodity-focused rand hit four-week lows after weak Chinese and Australian data raised global growth concerns.
China's official services PMI slowed to 53.7% in September from 56.3 in August, highlighting the economy's seventh straight quarter of slowdown, while Australia posted weak export data. Chinese markets were closed for holidays.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds firm on foreign buying
October 3, 2012--The South African bond market was firm in afternoon trade on Wednesday despite a weaker rand as some foreign demand kicked in.
"Although the rand has moved above R8.40 per dollar‚ we have seen some foreign demand for inflation-linkers [where principal sums are indexed to inflation and hence are designed to cancel the capital-eroding effects of inflation]‚ which do not normally attract foreign interest. This may mean that investors are looking for safe havens in emerging markets given the poor prospects for the eurozone ‚” a local bond trader said.
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Source: FIN24
FTSE and Nairobi Securities Exchange Launch Groundbreaking Kenyan Government Bond Index
October 3, 2012--FTSE Group ("FTSE"), the award winning global index provider, and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) today announced the launch of the FTSE NSE Kenyan Shilling Government Bond Index,
the world’s first independently calculated benchmark index tracking the principal Kenyan government bond market.
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Source: FTSE
SA stocks end flat as miners lose ground
October 2, 2012--South African stocks ended flat on Tuesday, as sharp losses in strike-hit mining companies such as Anglo Platinum offset big gains by Mr Price and other retailers.
Retailers, among the top performer on the benchmark index so far this year, gained between 2% to 3%, powered by optimism about African expansion and as investors bet interest rates are likely to stay low, bolstering consumer spending.
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Source: FIN24
Rand recovers on Marcus' comments
October 2, 2012--The rand strengthened in the afternoon on Tuesday as traders react to Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus' comments about the South African economy.
"The rand remains under pressure; it lost ground against the US dollar but is currently off of its weaker levels.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds firm after SARB comments
October 2, 2012--The South African bond market firmed in afternoon trade on Tuesday after South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) governor Gill Marcus said policy makers should "adjust the policy stance".
“The speculation that the Sarb will follow the lead of the Reserve Bank of Australia in cutting rates has gained momentum after the governor’s comments‚” a local bond trader said.
At 15:52‚ the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.340% from 5.440% at Monday’s close and 5.370% at Friday’s close. The R207 was bid at 6.415% and offered at 6.385% from its previous close of 6.505%‚ and the R186 was trading at 7.490% from 7.555% at its previous close.
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Source: FIN24
Resources lead JSE higher
October 1, 2012-- The JSE all share index made good gains on Monday, with resources and industrial counters helping the index advance, kicking off the fourth quarter on a good note.
The JSE all-share index [JSE:203] closed up 1.43% at 36 269.27 points‚ with the resources index [JSE:210] souring 2.77% and industrials [JSE:211] 1.06% firmer.
The gold price reached its highest level since November last year on Monday‚ after the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said the central bank's bond-buying programme would likely continue through next year.
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Rand stronger on SA's global bond debut read more
JSE up slightly on mining counters
At 17:00 local time‚ the JSE all-share index closed 0.40% up at 35 757.98 points‚ with the platinum index gaining 2.41% and gold counters lifting 2.14%.
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Rand weakens on trade deficit view more
Source: FIN24
October 1, 2012--The rand firmed against the dollar on Monday after local South African bonds were formally included in Citi's prestigious World Government Bond Index(WGBI), exposing them to a much wider pool of international investors.
The rand was 0.36% firmer at R8.2775 against the greenback at 06:10 GMT from Friday’s New York close of R8.315.
Source: FIN24
September 28, 2012--The JSE stock market closed higher on Friday, buoyed by mining stocks, which experienced a big selloff earlier this week.
There was no positive news to drive markets and sentiment is still negative due to local mining woes.
Source: FIN24
September 28, 2012--The rand weakened in late afternoon on Friday after SA's trade deficit widened more than expected in August to R12.2bn.
At 15:23 local time‚ the rand was bid at R8.2827 to the dollar from R8.2192 at Thursday’s close. It was bid at R10.7044 to the euro from its previous close of R10.6139 and at R13.4101 against sterling from R13.3425 before.
Source: FIN24
