On Monday (24 September), South Africa celebrates National Braai day. It is a public holiday on Monday so people in South Africa have a long weekend starting today. So far all those outside South Africa, when you try to call our offices on Monday and no one is answering, please note that we will be braaing!

Braaing is a national pastime in South Africa and it is nice to see that a day has actually been put aside to celebrate this. Very few places across the world can match up to a great South African braai. Around the world they call them barbeques but it just doesn’t sound right hearing the word ‘barbeque’ mentioned in South Africa.

So everyone please get out your braai stands come Monday when you are not going to work and lets celebrate this great day and we get back to work with a bang come Tuesday.

Please visit the National Braai day website by clicking here.

Whilst shopping online recently, I thought too myself, “when I am entering my credit card details they ask to enter my name as it appears on the card, my credit card number, the 3 digit CVV number on the back of the card, the cards expiry date and if my card is VISA or Mastercard.” Once all that is entered I have basically just shopped online.

Then I thought to myself, do I physically need to have a credit card to be able to shop online? And the answer was no. When I’m shopping online, no one is asking to see my credit card or I do not have to swipe it through some machine, all that is required is the information on the front and back of the credit. This then got me thinking that, I could easily have someone else’s credit card information and be able to shop online. The security is lacking when it comes to this aspect of shopping online. Read the rest of this entry »

The JSE (Johannesburg Securities Exchange) closed the day in a very good position. Infact, most stock exchanges across the world are in positive territory today this on the back of the US interest rates cut. 

The JSE all share index closed 3.62% higher, as resources rallied 6.01%. The platinum mining index climbed 4.89%, and the gold mining index added 3.08%. Industrials gained 1.42%, financials rose 2.4% and banks collected 1.4%.

Let’s see how the markets trade for the rest of the week. Could be a very interesting week with lots of money being made by investors.

The rand was trading at R7.o5 / US$ this morning which is a 6 week high against the dollar. This is partly due to the US Federal Reserve cutting their interest rates by 50 basis points this week.

Analysts predict that the rand will reach the R7 / US$ mark by the end of this week. It would now be a great time for all those wanting to make US$ payments using your rands to go ahead and do so.

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Figures released recently indicate that online shoppers in South Africa have now spent almost R1 billion shopping online. This figure could easily be greater but for a couple of factors. Firstly, not a large percentage of the South African population has access to internet and from my own personal experiences, one needs a fast and reliable internet connection to effectively shop online. Most online shopping websites are highly technical and one can spend hours just trying to purchase one product if you do not have a fast internet connection. But I’m glad to see that the South African internet market is trying to catch up to international standards and we are seeing faster and cheaper internet connectivity options available on the market today.

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The Twenty20 world cup cricket started last week in South Africa and I had the opportunity to attend a couple of the games played at Newlands in Cape Town. I must say that the organisation of the tournament has gone on well, except for only being able to buy Castle draft and no other beer! To start off with the crowds that have been attending the games have been quiet large and this largely due to the fact that ticket prices have been affordable to the majority of cricket lovers across the country and even those not interested in cricket are willing to pay R20 or R40 a ticket just for the sheer experience.

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Yesterday world oil prices hit the $80 a barrel price. There are no clear explanations to this but many analysts believe that a big drop in crude inventories and a reported shutdown of nearly 200,000 barrels from Alaska’s North Slope - a fourth of the region’s total output - and a gathering storm in the Atlantic, are reasons for the increase in price.

Now here in South Africa, this rise in oil prices is in turn going to rise our petrol price again, this on the back of previous price reductions over the last 3 months. My guess is that the petrol price will rise agin in October by about 12 cents a litre for petrol and 15 cents a litre of diesel. Read the rest of this entry »