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May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 28 2012 07:53
The City of Cape Town has spent R175m running the Myciti bus service since the Soccer World Cup compared to an income of R35m, a report says.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - The rand gained slightly against the dollar
in early Wednesday trade, supported by firmer commodity prices and an uptick
in risk sentiment globally as investors waited for market-sensitive domestic
inflation and retail sales data.
The rand was up at R8.028 to the dollar at 06:10 GMT, after
closing at R8.04 in New York.
It traded as high as R7.9928 on Tuesday and looks set to
test the psychologically important R8.0 level if data point to sustained
growth in Africa's biggest economy.
Beyond R8.0, the rand is likely to meet resistance at R7.95,
its December high.
Government bonds firmed after a good auction on Tuesday.
Yields were down 4 basis points to 6.73% for the 2015 bond and 8.485% on the
2026 issue.
Inflation data due at 08:00 GMT will show the extent of an
upwards trend in consumer prices, while retail sales numbers at 11:00 GMT
should reveal the state of consumers’ pockets.
Economists expect an uptick to 6.2% in December inflation
from 6.1% the previous month, while retail sales growth is expected to have
slowed to 7.2% in November from 7.4% in October.
The purchasing managers’ index is also due at 09:00 GMT,
with the leading manufacturing indicator seen in positive territory.
“If these data collectively reinforce our view that the
South African economy is not in dire need of additional monetary accommodation
over the coming months, then the cost of shorting the rand would remain
relatively punitive and as a result help deter rand bears,” Absa Capital said
in a note.
State power utility Eskom is also due to sell a total of
R250m of its ES18 and ES26 bonds later in the session.