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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 - Resources led the upside and kept the JSE firmly in the black by noon on Friday.
By 12:06, the JSE all share index had gained 1.83%, with resources adding 3.65% and platinum counters 2.07% firmer. However, gold miners weakened 1.02%. Banks edged down 0.36%, financials collected 0.27% and industrials were up 0.42%.
The rand was last bid at R8.05 to the dollar from R8.04 when the JSE closed on Thursday. Gold was quoted at $976.30/oz a troy ounce from $974.28/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 287/oz, from $1 290.50/oz at its previous close.
"We are holding firmly. There is some mining action on the back of this BHP, Rio Tinto deal," the trader said.
"The mining sector is pushing the market up at the moment. We are seeing interest at these lower price levels.
"Dow futures are up at the moment, and we are waiting for the US employment figures out later.
"Overall, the sentiment is still looking positive, particularly among these resources," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the FTSE 100 was steady and posted healthy gains as investors adopted a cautiously optimistic stance ahead of the key US non-farm payrolls report for May, due 12:30 GMT. Although expectations are for a loss of around 500 000 jobs, "with sentiment idly positive for today, a better number than that could prove to be the catalyst
to set up further strength in London, with a run back towards 4500 entirely possible," said IG Index. Mining stocks continue to shine on Rio Tinto's decision to drop out of its deal with Chinalco and launch a rights issue instead, along with entering a joint venture with peer BHP Billiton.
The FTSE 100 was last up 1.40%.
US stocks are called to open higher on Friday adding to the modest gains seen in the previous session, says David Morrison at GFT. Calls the DJIA up 30 points at 8780.0 and the S&P 500 up four points at 946.5. Says the focus will be on the non-farm payrolls data at 12:30 GMT, before the opening bell. Also cautiously eyes rising bond yields. Says this could be a sign that either there is increased confidence or that investors are demanding higher rates for buying US debt. The Dow front month futures contract trades +0.5% at 8771.0 and the S&P 500 trades +0.5% at 944.8.
- I-Net Bridge