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Rand holds firm on eurozone euphoria
July 27, 2012--The rand held firm against the dollar in early Friday trade, taking its cue from a resurgent euro after the European Central Bank promised to hold the bloc together, boosting sentiment which has been battered by nagging debt woes.
The rand earlier climbed to a week’s high of R8.2150 to the greenback and was at R8.2235 by 06:30 GMT, up 0.26% from Thursday’s R8.2450 close.
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Source: FIN24
JSE stronger on back of ECB statement
July 26, 2012--The JSE saw a rally in late trade on Thursday after the European Central Bank's president Mario Draghi said the central bank "would do whatever it takes to protect the euro".
“This announcement calmed concerns about Greece dropping out of the eurozone and we saw energetic buying into the euro and commodities‚” said Devin Shutte‚ market analyst at stockbrokerage Newstrading.
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Source: FIN24
Rand bolstered by stimulus hopes
July 26, 2012--The rand steadied against the dollar on Thursday after rallying 1.5% overnight due to strong demand for local bonds by foreign accounts, and could rally further on hopes of additional stimulus for struggling leading economies.
The yield for the three-year paper was down two basis points at 5.37% in early trade and that for the 14-year issue fell 4.5 basis points to 7.29%.
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Source: FIN24
JSE buoyed by gold and platinum
July 25, 2012-- The JSE was holding up well at noon on Wednesday, despite a weaker US overnight close and disappointing second-quarter results from Apple and other big technology players.
Asian markets also lost value.
“We are holding up pretty well‚ with gold and platinum counters driving the market and the top 40 index driven by gold. Investors are risk-averse and a flight to safe-haven gold is seen‚ while the eurozone crisis continues to be the theme for now‚” said Francois Venter‚ equities dealer at Investec Asset Management in Cape Town.
At 11:56 the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.16% at 34 054.16.
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Source: FIN24
JSE recovers a tad after selloff
July 24, 2012--The JSE share market ended firmer on Tuesday, generally outperforming leading world stock markets.
Mining shares‚ particularly gold‚ fared reasonably well in the light of the weaker rand‚ recovering from the previous day’s sharp losses‚ while industrials made healthy gains‚ led by chemicals and explosives company AECI.
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Source: FIN24
Rand firms in temporary reprieve
July 24, 2012--The rand firmed against the dollar on Tuesday, tracking global markets that were cheered by signs of improvement in Chinese manufacturing data, while government bonds improved from weaker levels from the previous session.
The South African currency was up 0.4% to the dollar at R8.4283 by 06:06 GMT, after hitting a near one month low on Monday as investors globally sought cover in safe haven assets from Spain’s debt troubles.
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Source: FIN24
Circumstances at Birth are Important Drivers of Inequality in South Africa
Slower Growth Forecast Places Sharper Focus on Policy Challenges
July 24, 2012--A weakened global economy and dampening of consumer and business confidence are triggering a slowdown in South Africa's growth momentum, and the forecast is a lowered growth rate of 2.5 percent for 2012 according to a new World Bank report, "South Africa Economic Update: Focus on Inequality of Opportunity" released today. The forecast is lower than the earlier, November 2011 estimate of 3.1 percent by the World Bank.
“South Africa is highly integrated with the global economy, and is therefore susceptible to the ongoing slowdown in the Euro zone countries and China, the two principal export destinations for its goods and services,” said Asad Alam, World Bank Country Director for South Africa speaking at the press launch. “The global headwinds have put into even sharper focus the demanding policy challenges of high inequality and unemployment in the country. We are confident that the report will spur debate and contribute to informed policymaking, especially the findings from the first-ever application of the Human Opportunity Index for South Africa.”
view the South Africa Economic Update Focus on Inequality of Opportunity report
Source: World Bank
JSE softer in noon trade‚ miners weigh
July 23, 2012--The JSE was trading softer in noon trade on Monday after reaching its lowest level in four days at the start of the day‚ with the eurozone crises again weighing on markets.
“The dollar is ironically seen as a safe haven and therefore our rand is trading lower and a stronger dollar pushed commodity prices lower‚ which affects local commodity companies negatively‚” said Hennie Fourie‚ stockbroker at PSG Konsult.
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Source: FIN24
Rand slides further in afternoon trade
July 23, 2012--The rand slipped further in afternoon trade amidst growing concerns over the eurozone debt-crisis.
The local currency has been under-pressure since last Friday‚ on risk aversion.
Concerns over the 17-member bloc’s growth resurfaced as EU Finance Ministers approved EUR100bn financial aid for Spanish banks. However‚ the mood quickly soured when Spanish authorities announced that the country was likely to remain in recession until 2014.
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Source: FIN24
JSE ends softer on profit taking
July 20, 2012--SA's benchmark stock index, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] Index, shed 0.19% on Friday to close at 34 225.42 points on the back of profit taking after a couple of good trading days, and also due to the eurozone crisis weighing on the market at the end of the day.
The market was buoyed by gold mining counters‚ which gained 2.25%‚ while resources shed 0.19%‚ platinums lost 1.89% and banks weakened 0.94%.
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Source: FIN24
