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Risk aversion again hammers rand
August 18, 2011--The rand extended losses against the dollar on Thursday, falling more than 2.1% and in tandem with local and global stocks, which were slammed by renewed world growth worries.
Government bonds strengthened and the yield on the 4-year issue hit a new all-time low of 6.67% as foreign investors snapped up local debt, which still offers better returns than those in developed countries.
The rand traded at R7.2285/$ in afternoon trade, after earlier hitting a session low of R7.2505/$ Wednesday’s close at R7.0927/$. The rand ranked in the bottom five in a basket of 20 emerging market currencies monitored by Reuters.
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Source: FIN24
JSE books biggest drop in 15 months
August 18, 2011-- JSE benchmark stocks booked their biggest daily decline in more than 15 months on Thursday, tracking equities elsewhere which slid on renewed worries about the global economic recovery.
The JSE Top-40 blue-chip index ended 3.37% lower at 26 030.31, registering its biggest daily decline since early May 2010. The broader All Share [JSE:J203] index dropped 2.956% to 29 288.86.
Renewed worries about Europe's debt crisis and a raft of weak US economic data hit global markets, driving down stocks and oil prices and pushing US bond yields to record lows while pushing gold to a record high.
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Source: FIN24
Nigeria taking lead in local debt
August 18, 2011--Nigeria looks set to overtake South Africa as the continent’s biggest issuer of local government debt with a planned $650m auction by one of its states in October, but sub-national bonds remain far off for much of Africa.
Capital markets can prove cheaper than bank loans - and may be the only option - for some governments seeking to fill budget gaps or fund big infrastructure projects, but in much of Africa the growth of local debt issuance has been slow to take off.
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Source: FIN24
East Africa Could Match Japan in Ease of Doing Business, Finds IFC-World Bank Report
August 17, 2011—IFC and the World Bank today launched a report stating that if the best of East African regulations and procedures were implemented across the board, the business regulatory environment in East Africa, as measured by the report, would be comparable to that in Japan.
The report, Doing Business in the East African Community 2011, draws on data from the annual global Doing Business study and takes a detailed look at business regulations in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The report states that East Africa could benefit from sharing good practices in business regulation as measured by Doing Business.
In the past five years all East African Community economies made it easier to do business. The average ranking for those countries is 117 out of 183 economies overall in Doing Business 2011. Kenya has some of the most business-friendly regulations for dealing with construction permits. Ugandan courts resolve insolvency relatively efficiently. And Rwanda is among the fastest places to start a business.
“If each East African country was to adopt the region’s best practice for each Doing Business indicator, East Africa would rank 18, bringing the community closer to the global top performers,” said Sabine Hertveldt, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and co-author of the report.
view report-Doing Business in the East African Community 2011
Source: World Bank
JSE profit up, special dividend
August 17, 2011--Johannesburg Stock Exchange chief executive Russell Loubser says bourse has sufficient cash reserves for its needs, pays shareholders special dividend
WITH its capital expenditure outlay for a new equities back-office system nearing its end, the JSE yesterday said that it would pay a special dividend of R2,10 a share, sending its share up 4,53% to a two-week high of R68,99.
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Source: Business Day
Uncertainty threatens Zimbabwe's recovery
August 17, 2011--Political uncertainty, disputes within the ruling coalition and a liquidity squeeze together threaten to bring Zimbabwe’s fragile economic recovery to a halt after two years of rapid expansion.
Since the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) joined a coalition with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party after disputed and violent 2008 elections, relative stability has helped the country become one of Africa’s fastest-growing nations.
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Source: FT.com
US earnings lift markets, JSE
August 17, 2011--The JSE closed in the black on Wednesday as the US led global stocks into positive territories. The US stock market gained on the back of strong earnings from several retail companies.
A local equities dealer said the JSE traded higher in the last few hours of the day due to direction given by positive Dow futures. "The dollar weakened, which is positive for hedging and comodities," he said.
By 17:00 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index gained 0.64%, as banks added 1.61%, financials rising 0.77%, and industrials up 0.73%. Platinum miners were up 0.70%, while resource shares gained 0.56%.
Gold miners were down 1.27%.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds edge firmer on offshore interest
August 17, 2011-- South African bonds were up to 10 basis points firmer in late trade on Wednesday, thanks to a surge in interest in SA bonds from foreign investors.
Earlier, traders had noted that foreigners were driving local yield direction.
By 15:50, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.745% from 6.835% at the previous close. The R207 was bid at 7.790% and offered at 7.775% from 7.855% and the R186 was trading at 8.010% from 8.165%
The rand was bid at 7.0771 against the dollar from its previous close of 7.1434.
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Source: FIN24
Rand, JSE hit by weak eurozone growth
August 16, 2011--The rand fell as much as 1.9% against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed down by a weak growth outlook for the country’s main trading partner bloc and showing the worst performance among its emerging market peers.
Stocks fell for the first time in four sessions on Tuesday, after downbeat economic data in Germany sparked profit-taking but gold miners rallied as bullion prices cruised higher.
The rand weakened to R7.1985/$ before clawing back some ground to R7.1294/$ in early evening trade, still down 1.2% from Monday’s close
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Source: FIN24
Bonds boosted by foreign buying
August 16, 2011--South African bonds maintained their firmer bias and were up to 12 basis points firmer in late trade on Tuesday as offshore interest buoyed the market.
Earlier, a trader noted that eurozone debt pressures had directed foreigners to safe haven bonds.
By 15:50, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.835% from 6.925% at the previous close. The R207 was trading at 7.875% from 7.970% and the R186 was trading at 8.210% from 8.315%.
The rand was bid at 7.1270 against the dollar from its previous close of 7.0618.
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Source: FIN24
