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Rand tracks weaker dollar
January 22, 2010--The rand eased in the afternoon session on Friday tracking a softer US dollar which continued to react to President Barak Obama's proposed banking reforms.
At 15:39 the rand was bid at R7.6011 to the dollar from R7.5653 at its previous close. It was bid at R10.7469 to the euro from its previous close of R10.6661 and was at R12.2412 against the sterling from R12.2483.
The euro was bid at $1.4134 from $1.4098 previously.
A href="http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-2385-2396_2568807" TARGET="_top">read more
Source: FIN24
Bonds weaken a tad on rand
January 22, 2010--Bonds weakened a little during the afternoon session on Friday after the rand gave back a fair amount of ground.
By 15:55 the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.465% after closing at 7.370% on Thursday and the medium-term R157 was yielding 8.530% after closing at 8.520% previously. The long-term R186 was at 9.250% from 9.205% before.
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Source: FIN24
Citadel Capital to invest $400m in East Africa
January 17, 2010--Egyptian investment firm, Citadel Capital, has revealed plans to invest up to $400m over the next two years in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
'East Africa's appealing natural competitive advantages - including fast-growing consumer markets and large workforces - fit perfectly with our time-proven strategy of turning national players into regional champions,' Citadel's Chairman and founder, Ahmed Heikal said.
Source: AME Info
Bonds firm after well-bid auction
January 15, 2010-- South African bonds were firmer in thin trade late Friday afternoon which traders attributed to a reasonably well-bid government inflation-linked bond auction and a relatively stable rand
The local market also received some support from US Treasurys which remained higher after the day's first round of data, which showed just a modest rise in consumer prices in December. Data also showed conditions for New York manufacturers improved sharply, though that was expected. 2-yr up 1/32 to 0.90%, 10-yr up 7/32 to 3.71% and 30-yr at 4.61%.
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Source: FIN24
US data holds back JSE
January 15, 2010--Better than expected manufacturing data in the US came out to late to prevent South African stocks from ending in the red on Friday.
Manufacturing activity in the New York area, which improved more than expected, did however lift stocks somewhat about an hour before close however, resources and gold miners kept the local bourse firmly in the red.
At 17:00 the JSE all share index had shed 76%, led by resources down 1.35%, and gold miners dropped 2.55%. Platinum miners shed 1.75%.
Banks were flat, up 0.15%, but financials subsided 0.34%, and industrials declined 0.29%.
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Source: FIN 24
More volatility expected on JSE
January 8, 2010--The local bourse traded in the black for four sessions this week, hitting territory uncharted in nearly 17 months. Some traders expected volatile trading next week with more volumes coming through as more traders returned from holidays.
The Johannesburg Top-40 index gained 0.91 percent to 25 586.73 points and the broader All-Share index added 0.89 percent to 28 266.54 points.
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Source: FIN 24
Rand rallies on dollar weakness
January 8, 2010--South Africa's rand gained as much as 0.9 percent against the dollar on Friday, riding on the greenback's general weakness after disapponting U.S. jobs data, while stocks ended up boosted by mining shares.
The rand rallied to a session high of 7.3550 to the greenback but gave back some of the gains to trade at 7.3725 by 19:34, 0.67 percent stronger than Thursday's close at 7.4225.
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Source: FIN24
Big run for SA stocks in 2009
December 31, 2009-Domestic stocks closed the year higher as an improvement in investors' hopes for the recovery of the world economy boosted stocks globally.
Mining shares, which were also lifted by higher precious metals prices, led the modest gains, helping the bourse rack up a 29 percent gain for the year.
The JSE Top-40 index of blue chips climbed 0.71 percent on the day to 24 996.97 points and the all-share index was up 0.7 percent at 27 666.45 points when local financial markets closed at 12:00.
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Source: FIN 24
Rand beats other currencies
December 31, 2009--South Africa's rand gave up some ground against the dollar on Thursday but was on course to end the year up nearly 30 percent against the greenback, one of the best performances among emerging market currencies.
By 13:37 the rand traded just 0.17 percent softer against the dollar at 7.4025 compared to Wednesday's close at 7.39.
The rand gains this year have prompted both the government and central bank to say the currency is over-valued and could hamper the economy's recovery after a recession.
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Source: FIN 24
Oil tops $77 on low inventories
Decemeber 24, 2009--Oil rose for a fourth day on Thursday, briefly touching a three-week high, as support came from equity gains and falls in oil inventories in key consumer markets.
By 0948 GMT, US crude oil futures were trading 38c higher at $77.05, having hit $77.48, the highest price since December 4.
ICE Brent crude futures gained 21c to $75.63.
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Source: Fin24
