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Rand stable ahead of ECB meeting
August 2, 2012--The rand was a bit stronger at noon on Thursday. The currency found itself in stable territory, tracking the euro, while eagerly awaiting the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England's rate announcements this afternoon.
“The Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke said nothing last night and I am sure he will do something before the US election in October this year. I am expecting some monetary stimulus in September‚ by the latest in October. The rand is stable now‚ waiting for the ECB’s president Mario Draghi - then there will be chaos‚” said Mark Kalkwarf‚ portfolio manager at Iquad Group.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds weaker as auction disappoints
August 2, 2012--South African bonds were trading slightly weaker at noon on Thursday on the back of a disappointing switch auction this morning and due to a sell-off in the market because of the lack of action by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
“There is a risk that the European Central Bank (ECB) may also not perform to market expectations later this afternoon‚ which could lead to further a bond sell-off and thus more weakening‚” said a local trader.
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Source: FIN24
IMF Working paper-A Financial Conditions Index for South Africa
August 1, 2012--Summary: The main purpose of this paper is to construct a financial conditions index (FCI) for South Africa.
The analysis extracts the index by applying two alternative approaches (principal component analysis and Kalman filter), which identify an unobservable common factor from a group of external and domestic financial indicators. The alternative estimated FCIs, which share a similar trajectory over time, seem to have a powerful predictive information for the near-term GDP growth (up to four quarters), and they outperform the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) leading indicator as well as individual financial variables. Their recent dynamics suggest that following a strong recovery in late-2009 and 2010, reflecting in part domestic factors such as systematic reductions in the policy rate, the rebound in real economic activity, and a benign inflationary environment, the financial conditions have deteriorated in recent months, though not as sharply as in end-2008. Given their relatively high predictive power regarding GDP growth, a further deterioration may imply that economic activity is likely to slow in the period ahead.
IMF Working paper-A Financial Conditions Index for South Africa
Source: IMF
All-share closes above record 35 000
August 1, 2012--The broad All-share index closed above 35 000 for the first time in its 17-year history on Wednesday, rising 1.37% as telecoms, brewers and banks all gained on hopes of further stimulus by global central banks.
But some market players cautioned the recent rise was overdone, especially given the fragile outlook for growth in Africa's top economy.
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Source: FIN24
JSE stays firmer, led by platinums
August 1, 2012--The JSE share market was in record territory at noon on Wednesday, bouncing back from the previous day's losses, as equity markets looked to the US Fed policy statement later today.
Platinum shares and industrials led the upside‚ with SABMiller [JSE:SAB] reaching a fresh record high.
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Source: FIN24
Rand tests R8.3 support level
August 1, 2012--The rand opened slightly firmer against the dollar on Wednesday but looked ripe for a test of the R8.30 support barrier in the trading day.
The rand nudged up just 0.12% to R8.2540 to the dollar at 06:40 GMT, off a R8.2675 close in the New York session on Tuesday.
The currency had looked set to test R8.15 and then R8.11 resistance levels in the last two sessions.
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Source: FIN24
African growth faces challenges in 2013
August 1, 2012--Africa will continue its economic growth into the next year, but faces increasing threats from continued political instability, youth unemployment and the global recession dragging down oil and commodity prices, a leading economist said Tuesday.
A forecast from the African Development Bank expects 4.5% growth across Africa in 2012 and 4.8% growth in 2013, with sub-Saharan Africa to grow at an even faster pace, the bank's chief economist Mthuli Ncube said.
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Source: FIN24
FG: Nigeria to Become Investors Haven
August 1, 2012--In decades to come Nigeria will be a major investment haven for the global community considering its robust economic policies being engineered through the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Leading international investors, who attended the three day Nigerian high level business and investment summit in London, who gave the verdict were confident that the micro-economic policy of the administration is among the best in the world.
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Source: This Day Live
Profit taking drags JSE lower
July 31, 2012--The JSE ended lower on Tuesday, after reaching an all-time high on Monday, with no major external factors driving the market, except for some risk-off profit taking by investors ahead of big international policy announcements on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We have seen some end-of-month locking in of profits today after yesterday's high. I am not surprised that we have come down and there was a fair bit of selling in the banking space today. We had good runs on Friday and Monday with tremendous gains‚ so today we saw some selling‚" said Ryan Wibberley‚ equity dealer at Investec Asset Management in Cape Town.
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Source: FIN24
JSE hits record high on eurozone hopes
July 30, 2012--South Africa's All-share index hit a record high in early trade on Monday, rising 0.6% as miner Assore and other commodities companies were buoyed by hopes of action by Europe to support its fragile economy.
The All-share, the broadest measure of South African stock performance, briefly touched 34,877.55, surpassing its previous record of 34,808.92 set on June 20.
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Source: FIN24
