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Treasury downplays Moody's downgrade
November 9, 2011--South Africa played down suggestions from Moody's on Wednesday that political pressure could lead to a further deterioration in public finances, saying Pretoria is committed to a sustainable fiscal path.
"Our debt metrics have not deteriorated compared to our counterparts and also if you look at how we are managing our debt, we've made it clear that although the deficit is widening we are not borrowing more," Treasury spokesperson Bulelwa Boqwana said.
Ratings agency Moody's cut South Africa's A3 rating outlook to negative from stable, voicing concern that pressure from unions and black voters wanting greater economic redress for the ills of apartheid could erode the country's finances.
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Source: FIN24
Pan-African exchange Bourse Africa to commence operations in mid-2012
Financial Technologies-promoted exchange is based on a pan-African operating model
November 9th, 2011--Bourse Africa Limited (BAL), the first pan-African commodity spot and multi-asset class exchange, will commence operations in mid-2012. BAL is establishing a pan-African exchange platform in Botswana and a network of linked exchanges, fully localized in national and regional markets across the continent.
A formal launch announcement to this effect was made by Mr. Shreekant Javalgekar, Director (Finance), Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL), at the International Convening on Commodity Exchanges in Africa, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 8th-9th November, 2011. Mr. Javalgekar was accompanied by Mr. Chris Goromonzi, MD & CEO, BAL; Mr. Denys Denya, Executive Vice President, African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank); and Mr. Lamon Rutten, Director of BAL and MD & CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).
BAL is promoted by Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL), the flagship company of India-based Financial Technologies Group (FT Group), a global leader in offering technology solutions and domain expertise to create and operate financial markets in multi-asset classes across Africa, the Middle-East, India and the Far East. The FT Group operates a network of nine exchanges including MCX, the world’s fifth largest commodity futures derivatives market in terms of contracts traded (January to June 2011, based on Futures Industry Association (FIA) statistics). BAL will leverage FTIL’s ‘best-in-breed’ technologies across the exchange and clearing space. It will also be supported by the Group’s ecosystem ventures engaged in providing solutions such as warehouse receipt financing, market information and capacity-building, among others.
“BAL, based on its network of linked exchange strategy, will integrate Africa by facilitating trading, hedging and investment opportunities in national, regional and continental assets for African and international users. FTIL is extremely pleased to be working with its African partners in turning this strategy into a ground reality. BAL endeavours to be a world class venue for regulated investment in the African continent, alongside the increasingly dominant venues seen today across Asia and the Middle East,” said Mr. Javalgekar.
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Source: Bourse Africa Limited
SA stocks inch up on eurozone hopes
November 8, 2011-- South African stocks inched to their highest close in seven sessions on Tuesday, rising 0.5 percent as banks and retailers rose on hopes a budget vote in Italy could help move the eurozone closer to resolution of its debt crisis.
Shares of exchange operator JSE Ltd fell after the bourse sacked its head of equities derivatives for irregular trading on his own account.
Investors were optimistic as Italy’s budget vote hinted that Prime Mininster Silvio Berlusconi had lost his parliamentary majority, piling further pressure on him to resign.
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Source: FIN24
Rand reverses losses against dollar
November 8, 2011--The rand reversed earlier losses against the dollar on Tuesday and looked set to close stronger in New York for the first time in three days as optimism that countries in the eurozone are dealing with their debt problems boosted overall risk sentiment.
Government bonds also latched on to the gains, pushing yields sharply lower as foreigners ventured back into local debt which still offers relatively higher returns than those in more developed countries.
The rand came off a session low of 7.98 to the greenback and was trading at 7.8675 by 1543 GMT, up 0.82 percent from Monday’s close.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds firmer after auction
November 8, 2011--South African bonds were firmer in midday trade on Tuesday, after a well-bid government auction.
At its weekly auction, the National Treasury received bids totalling R4.24bn for R1.1bn worth of R207 bonds at a clearing yield of 7.790%, and bids totalling R3.02bn for R1bn worth of R186 bonds at a clearing yield of 8.280%.
By 11:50, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.420% from its previous close of 6.450%. The R207 was trading at 7.830% from a previous close of 7.820% and the R186 was at 8.250% from its close of 8.290%.
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Source: FIN24
SA 'unlikely to meet development goals'
November 8, 2011--South Africa is unlikely to meet its development goals on its current path, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) said on Monday.
"The DBSA’s analysis suggests that, on our current path and capacity, many of our country’s development goals are unlikely to be met," the DBSA said in a statement on its Development Report 2011, Prospects for SA's Future.
Those goals related to employment, reindustrialisation, skills development and climate change
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Source: FIN24
JSE bucks global trend to end higher
November 7, 2011--South African stocks surged more than 2% on Monday, buoyed by a last-minute short covering on mixed news out of Europe, while gold miners such as Harmony Gold were lifted by stronger bullion.
Shares of Vodacom, the South African unit of Vodafone,, bucked the trend, ending down 0.8 percent after it cautioned second-half growth was likely to slow.
Talk that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could resign, which was subsequently denied, helped lift European shares and sent Johannesburg investors scurrying to close out short positions at the end-of-trade auction.
“It was a big short squeeze here,” said Devin Shutte, a trader at Newstrading.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds weaker on softer rand
November 7, 2011-- South African bonds were a few basis points weaker in midday trade on Monday, on the back of the weaker rand.
By 11:50, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.450% from its previous close of 6.435%. The R207 was bid at 7.840% and offered at 7.835% from a previous close of 7.800%, and the R186 was trading at 8.300% from its close of 8.275%.
The rand was bid at 7.9747 against the dollar from its previous close of 7.8966.
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Source: FIN24
SA's foreign exchange reserves up
November 7, 2011--South Africa’s net gold and foreign exchange reserves edged up to $49.221bn at the end of October from $47.93bn in September, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Monday.
A Reuters poll last week showed the market was expecting net reserves to rise to $48.66bn in October.
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Source: FIN24
Standard Bank Group facilitates Namibian government's landmark US$500m Eurobond
November 4, 2011--Standard Bank Group (SBG) has partnered the Namibian government in the issue of its debut US$500-million, 10-year Eurobond, as sub-Saharan sovereigns increasingly tap into international capital markets.
Namibia's 144A/RegS benchmark sovereign bond issued on 27 October 2011 carries a coupon of 5.5% and is rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch. This new issue for the Republic of Namibia is only the sixth benchmark sovereign bond to come to market from Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) in the past few years.
Standard Bank Group and Barclays Capital served as joint book-runners on this landmark transaction.
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Source: Standard Bank
