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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
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May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
New York - US stocks mostly rose on Monday amid market confidence on earnings of blue chip companies, in line with expectations of economic recovery from the long and brutal recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 20.86 points (0.21 percent) in final trades to 9 885.80, a fresh high for the year after the blue chip index pared earlier gains as it approached the 10 000 psychological level.
The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.14 points (0.01%) to 2 139.14 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index added 4.69 points (0.44%) to a provisional close of 1 076.18.
Trading was lighter than usual, with bond markets closed for the Columbus Day holiday.
The Dow had surged nearly four percent last week and the S&P 500 index nearly 4.5%, buoyed by the first batch of corporate earnings reports.
The market's rise Monday was led by energy stocks, boosted by a jump in crude oil prices on the back of a weaker US dollar and brighter economic recovery prospects.
"A weaker dollar is helping boost crude oil and metals prices, with the Dow Jones Industrials touching a new high for the year and getting closer to the 10 000 mark not seen since October 2008," analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said in a note to clients.
Another barrage of corporate results and economic data this week will test market momentum but analysts are bracing for improved bottom line for top firms.
"Setting aside the financials, where earnings estimates are truly anyone's best guess still, this is the time that the blue chip companies should shine, relatively speaking," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.
"The weaker dollar is on their side, operating leverage is much better, and market share gains should have been achieved in the recession at the expense of smaller competitors," he added.
Among blue chip companies due to report their third quarter results this week are Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Google, IBM, Bank of America, General Electric and Johnson & Johnson.
- AFP