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Rand slumps as Sarb shores up reserves
January 21, 2011--The rand continued to weaken against the US dollar in late afternoon trade on Friday as the unit battled to withstand reserve accumulation by the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb).
"It's reserve accumulation as well as portfolio outflows - and even though Eskom says it will repatriate the money from its bond issue, we suspect this will be directly absorbed at the Sarb, so it's likely to have limited influence in the spot market," said Michael Keenan, head of Forex Research at Standard Bank.
He said the rand had disengaged from the euro.
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Source: FIN24
JSE bounces back in choppy trade
January 21, 2011-- The JSE retained its composure in choppy trade on Friday, ending on a stronger note as resources led the recovery.
It looks like there is bargain-hunting following a sell-off, which saw the all share index drop 526.61 points on Thursday, an equity dealer said.
"This was overdone," he said of yesterday's sell-off.
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Source: FIN24
Rand slumps to new low
January 20, 2011--The rand weakened to a seven-week low against the dollar on Thursday, with dealers saying the central bank was in the market accumulating foreign exchange.
The unit was trading at R7.0830/$ in afternoon trade after hitting R7.09/$ its weakest since December 1. It closed on Wednesday in New York at R6.99/$.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds firm; unmoved by MPC statement
January 20, 2011--South African bonds remained firm but off the session's best levels in late trade on Thursday as local and foreign interest continued. A trader said SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) Governor Gill Marcus's statement was "fairly neutral".
The SARB's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided on Thursday to leave the repo rate unchanged at 5.5% following a three-day meeting.
By 15:56, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 7.610% from its previous close of 7.650%, while the R207 was bid at 8.490% from its previous close of 8.510%. The R186 was trading at 8.560% from 8.630%.
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Source: FIN24
JSE inches down as retailers slump
January 19, 2011--The JSE ended lower on Wednesday, with retailers leading the losers despite upbeat local retail trade sales and consumer price inflation (CPI) data. Industrials and banks also fared badly on the day, while gold stocks shone.
"We are seeing a bit of re-pricing of retail stocks after running hard last year. Retailers are trading at stretched valuations," said Mpho Mojalefa, a trader at BJM Private Client Services. "Now there is significant profit taking," Mojalefa said.
At 17:00 local time, the JSE all share index was down 0.60%, with banks slipping 1.19%, financials falling 0.59% and industrials down 1.32%.
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Source: FIN24
Zimbabwe launches COMEZ Commodities Exchange
January 18, 2011--The new Commodities Exchange of Zimbabwe (COMEZ) is open, but no date is yet set for the start of trading. At the launch on 14 January, Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube said the exchange would be managed by the State, banks and farmers’ unions, according to a report in Bloomberg’s Business Week.
Zimbabwe previously had a thriving Commodity Exchange, which was closed in 2001 when the Government gave the monopoly on corn and wheat trading to the Grain Marketing Board. COMEZ will end the GMB monopoly, although the State will continue to play a strong role.
Bloomberg quotes Ncube saying: “We should create a transparent, open and accessible commodities market where both buyers and sellers can participate knowing the prevailing prices.” To start with the new commodities exchange will trade only grains, cereals and oil seeds. The chairman of Comez, Wilson Nyabonda (the previous president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union) said that private investors would be able to acquire shares in COMEZ.
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Source: African Capital Markets News
JSE reports 12% jump in commodity derivatives trades in 2010
January 18, 2011--South Africa’s JSE Ltd (www.jse.co.za) traded 2.1 million commodity derivative contracts in 2010, up 12% on the previous year but still below the record 2.5 mn contracts traded in 2008. The JSE’s Commodity Derivatives market offers grain trading in white and yellow maize, soya, sorghum, wheat and sunflower seed.
It also trades metals including gold, platinum, silver and copper and a crude-oil based derivative called the Western Texas Intermediate (WTI), reportedly the world’s most traded commodity.
White maize accounted for 46% of all grains traded on the JSE, wheat accounted for 27% and yellow maize 16%.
The JSE’s head of commodity derivatives, Rod Gravelet-Blondin, said in a press release today (18 Jan) that the local commodity derivatives market continues to attract new participants who aim to eliminate price risks in an increasingly volatile trading environment: “There is far greater understanding among farmers and millers of the uses of agricultural commodity derivatives as a tool to reduce price risk. Because we are a physical delivery market, farmers can lock in prices at the start of a growing season by taking out agricultural commodity derivatives, so that no matter what happens in the course of the year, they will be able to get their Safex price provided they deliver grain to the quantity and quality specified.”
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Source: African Capital Markets News
Shorter dated bonds weaker
January 18, 2011--South African shorter dated bonds were weak in late trade on Tuesday, which a trader said was on the back of market consensus that there would be no rate cut at the end of the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Thursday.
By 15:56, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 7.730% from its previous close of 7.680%, while the R207 was bid at 8.560% from its previous close of 8.530%. The R186 was trading at 8.640% from 8.660%.
The rand was bid at 6.8665 to the dollar from its previous close of 6.8666.
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Source: FIN24
JSE rebounds thanks to resources
January 18, 2011--The JSE rebounded strongly on Tuesday, with resources leading the upside and global stocks boosting sentiments on the local bourse.
Resource counters led the upside, Andrew Todd, equity derivatives trader at Imara SP Reid, said. Following overreaction yesterday, when the JSE fell 1.06%, the domestic exchange staged a strong rebound, Todd said.
At 17:00 local time, the JSE all share index was up 0.75%, with resources firming 1.45%, platinum miners gaining 1.07%. But gold miners ended flat on the day. Financials rose 0.19%, banks picked up 0.37% and industrials were up 0.33%
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Source: FIN24
Bonds weak on rand; offshore sales
January 17, 2011--South African bonds were weak in early trade on Monday, on the back of the softer local currency and what a trader described as a "huge chunk" of foreign selling last week.
Foreigners were net sellers of R9.503bn worth of South African bonds including repurchase agreements in the week ended January 14, figures from the Bond Exchange of South Africa show. They sold a net R8.488bn of South African bonds excluding repurchase agreements last week.
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Source: FIN24