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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 recouped some of its overnight losses against a struggling dollar on Tuesday but was on the back foot against other currencies, as wage strikes that have hit fuel supplies dampened sentiment towards local assets.
Government bonds were steady or firmer after a weekly auction that showed strong demand at the longer end of the curve.
Stocks were also up, with gold miners buoyed again by the rally in precious metals prices, while retailer Woolworths hit a record high after it said it expects a jump in full-year earnings.
The yield on the four-year government bond was down three basis points at 7.505% while that for the 2026 paper was flat at 8.62%.
The rand traded 0.38% firmer at R6.9450/$ to the greenback in early evening trade compared with Monday’s New York close at R6.9715/$.
The local currency had fallen to R7.0020/$ overnight, its weakest level since May 26, hit by global risk aversion over debt problems in Europe.
“The rand is not doing too badly today, considering. The focus seems to be shifting away from the European scenario and all their problems to the US and all their debt problems, and that’s forcing the dollar a lot weaker,” Bidvest Bank chief dealer Ion de Vleeschauwer said.
Lawmakers in Washington are at an impasse over raising the United States’ $14.3 trillion debt ceiling to avoid a default, with only four days remaining before President Obama’s deadline to reach a deal.
The rand is likely to remain vulnerable to fluctuations in global risk appetite, while strikes to press for demands for wage increases far above the inflation rate are also a concern for investors.
“There is an element of rand weakness around, especially if you look against the (non-dollar) crosses and that’s probably due to the ongoing labour action that we’re seeing locally,” de Vleeschauwer said. “The rand would probably have been a bit stronger if we didn’t have any of these labour-related issues around.”
The JSE Top-40 index of blue chips on the local bourse rose 0.62%