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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 - South African stocks continued to climb in morning trade moving in line with firmer world markets. The JSE
continued to be supported by pleasing gains in the resource and platinum sectors as well as in the financial and banking sectors.
Asian and European markets were firmer after picking up on positive sentiment from the US after the Dow closed nearly 11% higher on Tuesday.
By 11:57, the JSE's all share index had gained 5.32%, supported by resources, which added 7.08%, platinum stocks, which were up 5.44% and gold miners, which rose 3.01%. Banks gained 4.74%, financials were up 3.62% and industrials put on
4.56%.
The rand was bid at R10.27 to the dollar from R10.69 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was last quoted at $747.90 a troy ounce from $733.67/oz at the JSE's last close.
Platinum was at $812.50/oz from Tuesday's close of $809/oz. Brent crude was at $62.05 from its previous close of $60.29.
Traders said the strength in the local market was in line with the positive sentiment on markets globally.
Weak dollar good for equities
"The weaker dollar is also helping commodity prices," said a trader. Traders also said that the dollar weakness against major currencies was also good news for equities.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that Japan's stock market jumped 7.7% on Wednesday on hopes for an interest-rate cut and a strengthening yen, but other Asian markets were mixed on a volatile day as investors tried to anticipate the next big move. Hong Kong, which led a big surge in the region's stocks on Tuesday, ended up 0.8%.
European stocks maintained their opening rally. "There were a lot of early opportunities today which makes a change from recent sessions," one trader says. Investors await the Fed's interest rate decision at 18:15 GMT, with a cut of 50 bps already priced into the market and several hoping for
75 bps.
London shares jumped, with the FTSE last trading 4.34% higher. However, US stocks are expected to fall at the open, as investors consolidate gains from Tuesday's rally. Ian Griffiths, trader at CMC Markets, calls the DJIA to open down 140 points at 8925, and the S&P 500 down 22.5 at 918.0.
- I-Net Bridge