Archive for October, 2009

Ask a stockbroker what the biggest threat to the current rally is and he or she will probably respond with a one-word answer – tightening. In fact, an increasingly common fear among traders is that the end of ultra loose monetary policy, and the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus, could bring the whole market crashing down… »

PSCE, PPI, CPI, MTBPS, US GDP and all that. Our resident market veteran reviews a big week. Essential listening, Liston and… »

Johannesburg, Oct 30 (I-Net Bridge) - South Africa recorded a surprise trade surplus of 3.871 billion rand for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in September after the 1.981 billion rand deficit of August, according to Customs & Excise figures released on Friday.
A 1.5… »

South African stocks traded sideways in the midday session on Friday, with an eye on month end.
At 12:00 the JSE all share index had gained 0.02%, with resources down 0.53%. Platinum producers edged 0.43% lower and gold counters slipped 0.13% lower.
Banks added 0.10%, financials… »

President Jacob Zuma said on Friday that the ANC’s alliance partners do not determine its economic policy, but merely added to the debate.
“These policies have been, and continue to be, the subject of ongoing debate, within the ANC and within the alliance,” he said, writing a weekly article in the party’s… »

The rand strengthened from its early morning levels by noon on Friday on the back of a weaker dollar, a local trader said.
At 11:54 the rand was bid at 7.6800 to the dollar from 7.7308 at its previous close. It was bid at 11.4095 to the euro from its previous… »

· The announced further relaxation in exchange controls will cause temporary rand weakness likely followed longer-term by increased inflows and currency strength, as is the typical reward of capital liberalisation. However, the risk with freeing up the currency further (note the opposite to freezing the currency) is that… »

A column in the Business Times (25 October, page 6) titled “Why broadband is expensive in SA”, allegedly written by Alan Knott-Craig, has reference.

A number of inaccuracies in the piece warrant immediate clarification.

Firstly, the contention that Telkom enjoys a de facto fixed-line monopoly contradicts the obvious movement towards the liberalisation of the… »

Harmony Gold Mining (HAR), South Africa’s third-largest gold producer, on Friday cautioned that electricity utility Eskom’s proposed tariff hikes could increase its costs by 15% a year.
Speaking during a presentation of the company’s September quarter results, Harmony CEO Graham Briggs said electricity costs would then represent 25% of total costs… »

Harmony Gold Mining (HAR), South Africa’s third largest gold producer, on Friday reported a 5.6% quarter-on-quarter increase in production to 373,431 ounces in the September quarter from 353,752 ounces in the June quarter.
The company reported a net loss of 29 million rand for the three months to end Septemebr 2009,… »