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Rand rallies on dollar weakness
January 8, 2010--South Africa's rand gained as much as 0.9 percent against the dollar on Friday, riding on the greenback's general weakness after disapponting U.S. jobs data, while stocks ended up boosted by mining shares.
The rand rallied to a session high of 7.3550 to the greenback but gave back some of the gains to trade at 7.3725 by 19:34, 0.67 percent stronger than Thursday's close at 7.4225.
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Source: FIN24
Big run for SA stocks in 2009
December 31, 2009-Domestic stocks closed the year higher as an improvement in investors' hopes for the recovery of the world economy boosted stocks globally.
Mining shares, which were also lifted by higher precious metals prices, led the modest gains, helping the bourse rack up a 29 percent gain for the year.
The JSE Top-40 index of blue chips climbed 0.71 percent on the day to 24 996.97 points and the all-share index was up 0.7 percent at 27 666.45 points when local financial markets closed at 12:00.
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Source: FIN 24
Rand beats other currencies
December 31, 2009--South Africa's rand gave up some ground against the dollar on Thursday but was on course to end the year up nearly 30 percent against the greenback, one of the best performances among emerging market currencies.
By 13:37 the rand traded just 0.17 percent softer against the dollar at 7.4025 compared to Wednesday's close at 7.39.
The rand gains this year have prompted both the government and central bank to say the currency is over-valued and could hamper the economy's recovery after a recession.
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Source: FIN 24
Oil tops $77 on low inventories
Decemeber 24, 2009--Oil rose for a fourth day on Thursday, briefly touching a three-week high, as support came from equity gains and falls in oil inventories in key consumer markets.
By 0948 GMT, US crude oil futures were trading 38c higher at $77.05, having hit $77.48, the highest price since December 4.
ICE Brent crude futures gained 21c to $75.63.
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Source: Fin24
JSE closes flat on thin trade
December 24, 2009--South African markets ended an abbreviated pre-Christmas day trading session on a mixed note on Thursday amid very thin trade.
With the exception of the currency market, local markets closed at lunchtime, with R1.7bn's shares traded. The markets will be closed for on Friday for Christmas and will re-open again on Monday.
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Source: Fin24
JSE up amid lightened liquidity
December 18, 2009--Resources elevated the JSE to end 216 points firmer on Friday in what a local trader said was a quiet session with lightened liquidity.
At 17:00 the JSE all share index had collected 0.80%, with resources firming 1.68%, platinum producers up 1.13% and gold miners inching 0.12% higher.
Banks eased 0.08% and financials were off 0.25%, but industrials were up 0.34%.
The rand was bid at 7.57 to the dollar, from 7.52 when the JSE closed on Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1 105.30 a troy ounce from $1 117.07 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 428/oz, from $1 421.50/oz the bourse's previous close.
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Source: FIN 24
Bonds chug along in a range
December 18, 2009--South African bonds chugged along in a range on Friday in typical early holiday mode, but there is an expectation that a rally may ensure before the year is out.
"We are range bound, but if we break 8.320%/8.300%, then we could rally, and quite quickly," said a local bond dealer.
"The coupon flows to come are significant," he added.
The dealer said the rand was only a small factor for the bond market at the moment.
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Source: FIN 24
JSE delistings: business as usual
December 17, 2009--Although the main board of the JSE has had twice the delistings it had last year, this is not the recession's fault.
The market value of the nine new listings - at more than R90bn - more than offsets the loss of 23 companies that took R17bn off the stock market.
Coronation Fund Managers portfolio manager Alistair Lea says that if one compares the number of delistings with those in previous years, the number is not unusual, so it's not fair to blame the recession for them.
The reason for the massive difference in the market value of the listings is the size of those that joined the exchange this year.
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Source: Fin24
A new JSE platinum listing
December 14, 2009--The Royal Bafokeng Nation, said to be Africa's richest tribe, has agreed with Anglo Platinum, the biggest name in global platinum-group-metals (PGMs) to go unconditional on listing the Bafokeng Rasimone mine, under a new name, within two years.
This steady-state mine, currently managed by Anglo Platinum, produces around 180,000 ounces of platinum a year, along with the normal bouquet of other metals and minerals dug out by PGM mines on the Bushveld Igneous Complex. The ownership structure of the mine will be changed; Anglo Platinum will hold an economic interest of 50% until listing, when the Royal Bafokeng ownership will increase to 67% and Anglo Platinum will dilute to 33%, immediately prior to the listing.
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Source: MineWeb
Resource counters knocked
December 11, 2009--The JSE was off its best levels by the close on Friday as a strong dollar knocked commodity prices and hence pulled heavyweight resources counters lower.
At 17:00 the JSE all share index had gained 0.77%, with industrials up 1.13% and platinum counters up 2.01%. However, gold counters fell 0.86%. The resources index was up 0.49%. Banks gained 1.34% and financials were 0.68% higher.
Local stocks were over 200 points higher earlier in the day as Dow futures, an improved Europe and strong Asia provided an underpin.
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Source: FIN 24
