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Weaker rand hits two-week low
May 5, 2011--South Africa's rand fell to a two week low against the dollar on Thursday partly as the euro weakened after the European Central Bank (ECB) did not signal the imminent interest rate rise expected by the market.
The euro is the currency of South Africa's largest trading partner and the rand tends to follow its moves.
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Source: FIN24
SA searches for ways to reduce emissions
May 5, 2011--South Africa needs to find ways to cut carbon emissions in producing electricity to comply with the potential outcomes of United Nations climate talks later this year, said the department of energy's head of electricity supply, Thabang Audat on Friday.
The 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17) will be held in Durban from November 28 to December 9 to find a binding long-term plan on combating climate change.
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Source: AME Info
Asian stocks, metals prices fall
May 4, 2011-- Asian shares fell on Wednesday, led by Chinese markets, with soft commodity prices making investors nervous a broader pullback in risk taking may be unfolding.
This week's 14% plunge in silver prices and a lower-than-forecast manufacturing growth reading in China have made investors nervous about holding big bets ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday and the April US payrolls report due on Friday.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds languish in quiet trade
May 4, 2011-- South African bonds continued to languish in quiet noon trade on Wednesday, with little in the way of fresh news to provide any direction.
By 11:47, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 7.610% from 7.615% at the previous close. The R207 was bid at 8.400% and offered at 8.370% from 8.385%. The R186 was bid at 8.605% and offered at 8.590% from its previous close of 8.615%.
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Source: FIN24
Commodities drag JSE lower
May 4, 2011-- The JSE stayed lower at noon on Wednesday as weaker commodity prices weighed on the local bourse. Mining stocks in particular came under pressure, a market watcher said.
By 12:10 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.80%, with resources falling 0.82%, platinum miners sliding 1.70% and gold miners dropping 1.71%. Banks erased 1.69%, financials declined 0.88% and industrials fell 0.75%.
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Source: FIN24
Rand Merchant Bank’s Coal Exchange-Traded Notes Will List on JSE Tomorrow
May 4, 2011--Rand Merchant Bank said its coal exchange-traded notes will list on Johannesburg’s bourse tomorrow to expand trade in the commodity.
This gives people the opportunity to invest in 1 metric ton of coal, “making the product more accessible and easier to invest in than directly into a futures contract, which typically trades at 5,000 tons of coal,” Vicki Goodwin, a Johannesburg- based spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement today.
The contracts will be settled against the price of coal exported from Richards Bay, South Africa, site of the continent’s biggest facility for shipping the fuel.
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Source: Bloomberg
Funds flows into African private equity – $1.5bn in 2010
May 4, 2011--Funds inflows into private equity in sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa (SSA) were $156 million in the first quarter of 2011, according to research by the Emerging Markets Private Equity association. This is lower than the equivalent rate over the full year 2010 and a small proportion of the total $10.2 billion raised in the first quarter for funds dedicated to emerging markets (43% of the amount raised in all of 2010). Emerging Asia raised $9.5bn (93% of the Q1 total) and China-focused funds accounted for $5.4 bn of the total.
For the year 2010, private equity fundraising for Sub-Saharan Africa totalled $1.49 bn and the region saw one of the fastest growth rates in emerging markets, reports EMPEA. Aggregate funds raised was up 56% on 2009, while most emerging markets regions raised less funds, according to a report on website, www.privateequityafrica.com.
Brazil saw the biggest increase among emerging markets, with funds up by 169%, followed by Latin American and Caribbean region at 149%. China saw its funds grow by 13% year-on-year. Russia was down 84%, Middle East and Africa down 58%, India was down 11%, Emerging Asia down 18% and the collective Central and Eastern European region 25%).
view report-2011 EMPEA/Coller Capital EM PE Survey of Investors
Source: African Capital Markets
Panel Finalises Structure of Draft Financial Reporting Bill
May 4, 2011--The interpreting and structuring of provisions for the proposed bill, to be named the Financial Report Proclamation of Ethiopia, was completed by a panel of experts at a gathering in Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) last week, Fortune has learnt.
The four experts are Botu Sintayehu and Brehanu Tadesse, legal experts from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED); Munir Ahmed, an instructor at the Civil Service College (CSC); and Amaha Bogale, public prosecutor for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
If ratified by Parliament, the bill will bring fundamental changes to Ethiopia’s financial reporting system by requiring the system to comply with international financial reporting standards (IFRS).
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Source: Addis Fortune
Experts Recommend Measures to Attract Investments in Africa
May 4, 2011--Financial experts, regulators and investors have said that for African capital markets to attract more investments, there must be strong infrastructure, exchanges, increased investor education, good corporate governance and adequate capacity to enforce rules and regulations in the markets.
Following the global financial crisis that had heavy impact on most developed capital markets, African capital markets are seen as the next destination for most international investors.
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Source: SEC.gov
Oil Spill(over)s: Linkages in Petroleum Product Pricing Policies in West African Countries-IMF Working Paper
May 3, 2011--Summary
This paper addresses a number of issues regarding petroleum product pricing in Western Africaemphasizing international spillovers. We use panel unit root rests and long-run modeling based on vector error correction models to assess links and convergence in petroleum product prices across countries. Our results indicate that in general over the long-run there is convergence in prices across the countries.
The estimation results for gasoline and diesel prices suggest the presence of long-run links between retail prices among the different country groupings with long-run multipliers ranging from 11 to -6.66. The speed of Adjustment to equilibrium varies significantly according to the countrygroupings considered. In contrast, the econometric results for kerosene prices not only indicate a weaker link between prices across countries, but also a much slower adjustment to equilibrium. Inlight of these important spillovers, the need to better coordinate pricing s and tax policies towards petroleum products at the regional level becomes apparent.