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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 strengthened against the dollar in early
Wednesday trade, buoyed by positive credit growth numbers from the central bank
which reduced the chance of an interest rate cut in July.
However, after shedding about 600 points on
Tuesday, the JSE All-share Index was trading 0.16% lower by 10:00 on Wednesday.
All indices were trading slightly lower at the time, except for financial
stocks which were up 0.05%.
This came after investors fled the US stock market on
Tuesday, when the S&P 500 tumbled to its lowest level in eight months in a
sell-off triggered by a wave of increasing alarm over the global economic
outlook.
All but one stock in the S&P 500 ended lower as
escalating doubts about the stability of Europe's banks roiled markets once
again. The index closed at its lowest level since October 30, breaking its
closing low for the year at 1 050.47 - another bearish signal for markets.
Ferdi Heyneke, a
portfolio manager at Afrifocus, feels that while investors are looking for a
reason to sell again, volatility remains in play and some bargain hunters may
well buy into the dips.
He noted that Dow futures are up slightly, but quickly
added that Eastern markets are down and the euro and rand remain under pressure.
The rand traded at R7.66 against the
dollar, 1.17% stronger than its previous New
York close of R7.6850 on Tuesday.
"The rand has been holding up well despite the risk sell-off, probably
due to the World Cup and the fact that we still have high yields," said a
Johannesburg-based dealer.
"Today the market will be looking to buy dollars on dips towards that
R7.60 level and R7.70 on the top side," he said.
Slight overnight strength by the euro also helped the South African unit,
the trader said.
South African goverment bonds were also firmer, with the yield on the 2015
bond down one basis point at 8.09% and that on the 2036 edging down 0.5
basis points at 9.07%.
Trade numbers are due to be released later, with the account expected
to show a deficit of R2.5bn versus a shortfall of R1.9bn in
April.
- Reuters & I-Net Bridge