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ECB rate cut weakens rand further
July 5, 2012--The rand weakened for the second consecutive day against the US dollar on the European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to cut rates.
The bank cut rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 0.75%‚ “but refused to do anything else to address the eurozone confidence crisis‚” Holger Schmieding‚ Chief Economist at London-based Berenberg Bank‚ said in a note.
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Source: FIN24
JSE up slightly in muted trade
July 4, 2012--The JSE ended a tad higher on Wednesday in lacklustre trade.
Gold shares gave up earlier gains to finish flat‚ while platinum shares came under selling pressure.
At 17:00 local time‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.16% to 34 041.12 points‚ with resources and gold shares flat (0.08% and 0.01% respectively)‚ while platinum counters lost 1.15%.
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Source: FIN24
SA to launch debut Islamic bond
July 4, 2012--South Africa is preparing to launch sub-Saharan Africa's first Islamic bond, paving the way for issues by other countries in the region, officials said on Wednesday.
Thuto Shomang and Monale Ratsoma of the Treasury’s government borrowing department told Reuters that South Africa ias leaning towards a dollar-denominated, five-year sukuk, using an ijara structure.
"It's the one that seems to attract investors’ interest.
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Source: FIN24
Rand firms, bonds rally
July 3, 2012--South Africa's rand rallied as much as 1.1% against the dollar on Tuesday to its strongest level in 7-1/2 weeks, boosted by increased demand from local companies repatriating their foreign currency to meet corporate year-end needs.
Government bonds also strengthened, pulling yields to multi-month lows as demand from foreigners rose, particularly at the higher end of the curve.
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Source: FIN24
•JSE's new Equity Trading Platform in SA after Decade in London
Move marks new era for exchange
July 2, 2012--The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) celebrates the start of a new era for its equity market today with the launch of equity trading platform Millennium Exchange(TM), developed by technology solutions provider MillenniumIT.
The day also marks the moving of the platform from London, where the trading engine has been situated for ten years, to the JSE building in Johannesburg. These changes are aimed at enhancing operational efficiencies for market participants, who are expected to benefit from executing transactions almost 400 times faster than the present trading solution.
The platform is housed within the JSE’s recently completed new state of the art data centre based on Tier 3 specifications and is designed to ensure 99.98% availability.
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Source: Origo Trading
JSE relatively flat amid consolidation
July 2, 2012--The JSE hovered in flat territory at noon on Monday, looking to consolidate after a fairly strong run on Friday, which was linked to the European Union leaders' resolve to deal with eurozone debt crisis.
At 12:08 local time‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.13% to 33 665.06 points‚ with resources losing 0.55%‚ gold shares shedding 1.14% and platinum counters giving up 1.66%.
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Source: FIN24
Rand ends steady at one month high
July 2, 2012--South Africa's rand steadied at a month high against the dollar on Monday, underpinned by good flows into the local bond market during a global risk rally that is propping up emerging markets.
Efforts taken by European leaders to stem the region's debt crisis on Thursday had cheered investors, who in turn now felt they could buy into riskier assets such as the rand.
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Source: FIN24
IMF working paper-Commodity Prices and Exchange Rate Volatility: Lessons from South Africa's Capital Account Liberalization
June 29, 2012--Summary: We examine the relationship between South African Rand and gold price volatility using monthly data for the period 1980-2010. Our main findings is that prior to capital account liberalization the causality runs from South African Rand to gold price volatility but the causality runs the other way around for the post-liberalization period.
These findings suggest that gold price volatility plays a key role in explaining both the excessive exchange rate volatility and current disproportionate share of speculative (short-run) inflows that South Africa has been coping with since the opening up of its capital account.
JSE closes week with good gains
June 29, 2012--The JSE had a positive trading day, tracking international markets, which rallied after a eurozone deal that would help struggling banks was struck.
The rand was trading quite stronger at R8.18 today from R8.42 on Thursday and although the rand “has been our saving grace”‚ it was holding trading gains back‚ said Drikus Combrinck‚ portfolio manager at PSG Konsult.
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Source: FIN24
JSE slides to three-week low
June 28, 2012--The JSE slid to a three-week closing low on Thursday, while THE platinum spot price dipped below US$1,400 an ounce level for first time in six months, piling pressure on the platinum sector.
Aquarius Platinum tumbled almost 10% to an all-time-closing low.
The euro area debt concerns dominated investor sentiment‚ as European leaders gathered for the two-day summit to tackle regions’ crises.
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Source: FIN24
