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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 JSE had declined further into negative territory at noon on Monday as the local market tracked European markets.
A local trader said that the market was lowering in line with Europe as sentiment over policy decisions turned sour.
He said: "For now the market's not happy. There's not a lot keeping markets up."
At 11:55 local time, the all share index was down 0.80%. Platinums dropped 1.68%, gold miners declined 1.60%, and resources decreased 0.95%. Banks were 1.13% lower, financials degenerated 0.81%, and industrials lost 0.63%.
The rand was bid at 8.23 to the dollar, from 8.12 at the JSE's close on Friday. Gold traded at US$1,679.57 a troy ounce from US$1,711.66/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was quoted at US$1,494.70/oz, from US$1,498.50/oz at the previous close.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stock markets fell on Monday as the rally sparked by Friday's progress at the summit of European Union leaders proved to be short-lived.
London's FTSE 100 Index was down 0.81% at 11:55 local time.
On Friday, 26 of the 27 EU countries agreed to work toward a closer fiscal union that includes new rules and increased coordination between countries. But the new treaty, with tougher budget discipline and automatic sanctions, could take months to negotiate, said Rabobank.
"Doubts about the road to closer fiscal integration, the lack of firepower in [the] European Financial Stability Facility [and the International Monetary Fund] to deal with the crisis in the short term and the European Central Bank's reluctance to use its 'bazooka' continue to plague the markets," it said.
Standard & Poor's warned that a downgrade of a raft of European economies was a medium-term possibility after Friday's communique. Separately, Moody's said the communique offers 'few new measures,' and that it still expects to reassess its ratings on European sovereigns early next year.
The UK did not agree to the principles of the new treaty when it could not secure its requested concessions. The decision by Prime Minister David Cameron has faced criticism, most notably from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who warned that the veto would leave Britain in danger of being "isolated and marginalised".