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Rand a little stronger-awaits ECB
September 5, 2012--The rand was trading stronger in late trade on Wednesday, supported by hopes of action from the European Central Bank's (ECB) President Mario Draghi on Thursday.
Headlines out of Europe on Wednesday suggested that the ECB could announce unlimited‚ sterilised bond buys in debt ridden eurozone countries‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
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Source: FIN24
JSE drops to five-week lows
September 4, 2012--The JSE stock market fell to a five-week closing low on Tuesday, tracking negative global sentiment, after the disappointing US manufacturing data for August.
The manufacturing index from the Institute for Supply Management dropped to 49.6 last month‚ from 49.8 in July.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion‚ while a reading below 50 suggests contraction.
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Source: FIN24
Rand slightly stronger but flows limited
September 4, 2012--The rand was slightly stronger in late trade on Tuesday, with market participants awaiting the European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting on Thursday and a two-day gathering of US Federal Reserve policymakers next week.
Expectations are that ECB President Mario Draghi might announce the buying of bonds with maturities of up to three years and also an interest rate cut; many market participants are also hoping for further monetary stimulus from the Fed.
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Source: FIN24
Botswana Stock Exchange launches automated trading
September 4, 2012--Months of hard work came to a climax when the Botswana Stock Exchange successfully launched its automated trading system (ATS) and now has live trading.
This replaces the open outcry trading system and the aim is to make the BSE more visible and trading more efficient. The exchange has been using a central securities depository (CSD) since 2008 and this was upgraded alongside the implementation of the ATS.
The ATS was installed by MillenniumIT, part of the London Stock Exchange Group, after a BWP8.8 million ($1.1m) contract. MillenniumIT also installed the CSD.
The new system was implemented on Friday 24 August. The day before, Thursday 23 August, was a trading holiday, while Friday was a settlement holiday with trades settling instead on 27 August. These holidays were meant to enable the BSE to transition from the old CSD system to the upgraded version.
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Source: African Capital News
JSE maintains a firmer tone
September 3, 2012--The JSE share market remained in positive territory at noon, supported mainly by the recovery of gold counters from last week's oversold levels.
The value and volumes traded on the local bourse were fairly light due to a public holiday in the US.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds firm on weaker PMI data
September 3, 2012--South African bonds were firm in midday trade on Monday after several countries' purchasing managers index (PMI) data indicated global growth was muted.
“We have seen several countries in Asia and Europe reporting poor August PMIs‚ so that has helped our market despite the softer rand‚” a local bond trader said.
At 11:47‚ the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.425% from 5.480% at Friday’s close.
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Source: FIN24
West African stock markets talking integration - will they walk the talk?
September 3, 2012--West African stock exchange leaders are again talking about integrating the markets and are to form a West African Capital Market Integration Council.
The exchanges in Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire have said they will seek to integrate by 2014. Latest arrival Sierra Leone is keen to join them.
John Tei-Kitcher, Acting Director General of the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), opening a 2-day forum in Accra on 23-24 August, said that WAMI would provide leadershop for integration and act as facilitator on behalf of all stakeholders. Those attending were Ghana Stock Exchange, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) of Côte d’Ivoire, which joins eight countries, and Sierra Leone Stock Exchange.
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Source: African Capital News
JSE closes higher after Bernanke
August 31, 2012--The JSE stock market closed higher on Friday after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s much anticipated speech at Jackson Hole on Friday afternoon.
Bernanke failed to announce any imminent monetary easing measures and did not outline any new steps to boost the US economy‚ but did say the stagnation in the US labour market was a “grave concern” and that the Fed still had some tools at hand and would use them if necessary.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds ease to no US quantitative easing
August 31, 2012--South African bonds eased in afternoon trade on Friday after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke signalled that there would be no further quantitative easing (QE) in the short term.
In 2010 Bernanke used the Jackson Hole conference to signal the second round of QE.
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Source: FIN24
Rand weakens after Bernanke's speech
August 31, 2012--The rand weakened against its major trading partners in late trade from the morning levels after the US central bank chief announced no additional monetary easing as most in the market had anticipated.
At 16:17‚ the rand was bid at R8.4412 to the dollar from R8.4938 at Thursday’s close. It was bid at R10.6248 to the euro from its previous close of R10.6241 and at R13.3738 against sterling from R13.4043 before.
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Source: FIN24
