At 15:40 the Rand was bid at R7.7874 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.8778, having reached R7.9275 during the course of the day. It was bid at R11.8760 to the euro from a previous R11.9763 and at R15.4578 against sterling from R15.6333 before showing that there have been slight gains in the strength of the local currency.

The JSE ended in the red today after what seemed to be a lot of profit taking on the market today coupled by the prospects of low economic growth in South Africa. The news that construction projects maybe halted due to Eskom’s inability to supply enough electricity also had a negative effect on the markets today. However, Eskom were quick to come out and quash that speculation.

The All share index ended 1.18% lower, led by a 5.18% fall in the platinum mining index. Resources were down 1.33% and the gold mining index gained 0.9%. Banks fell 1.48%, financials retreated 0.42% and industrials were also on the down 1.32%.

Opec decided today to maintain its current output levels and that saw oil at $104 a barrel at 19:05.

The Rand continues to soften against the major currencies. At 15:45 today, the Rand was trading at R7.8303 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.7301. The local currency was trading at R11.9199 to the euro from a previous R11.7678 and at R15.5675 against sterling from R15.3291 before.The JSE ended the day in the positive with the All Share index up 0.83%. The gains in the JSE were largely attributed to the resource stocks after strong platinum and gold prices pushed the stocks up. Financial stocks still remain in the red with the financial index being 2.75% down. Financial stocks are under pressure due to the weak Rand and poor inflation outlook in South Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

Could the petrol price increase on Wednesday force the central bank to increase interest rates again? It is a high possibility as the increase in fuel prices is going to have an affect on the countries inflation. Some analysts are saying that due to the fuel price increase, the consumer inflation (CPIX) could go up to 9.6% in March, edging further away from the central banks target of between 3 – 6%.

At the central banks last meeting, they decided not to increase the interest rates but this time around they maybe forced to. The next meeting will be on April 10 so we may have just a month to brace ourselves for a potential increase in rates. Read the rest of this entry »

The Rand was steady towards the end of the day after getting close to the R8/$ mark, although it continues to soften against the major currencies. At 15:45 the Rand was bid at R7.883 to the dollar, R11.9704 to euro and R15.6462 to the pound. It is important for the Rand to stay below the R8 mark as chances are that if it breaches this mark, we could well see the Rand head towards the R9 mark during the year.The JSE closed on a low note today, finishing 0.14% lower. The JSE’s Bank index was down 3.77%, Financials lost 2.32% and Industrials were also down by 0.93%. Resources were up 1.13%, the Platinum mining index surged up 4.22% and the Gold mining index was 4.27% in the positive. The JSE was in the red today largely due to weaker global equity markets. Not even the positives experienced by the resources and mining stocks could save the JSE from closing in the red.

The price of gold reached a record high today of $989.54 an ounce as the precious metal continues to surge towards the $1 000 mark. Platinum is also on the up and reached the $2 211 an ounce mark.

Power cuts, or load shedding as it is also referred to, will resume again today (3 March 2008) across South Africa. Small businesses across the country are going to be hit the hardest as it is reported that outages could last up to four hours at a time. Even though they are saying that load shedding will only occur twice a week, if that is the case and each outage is four hours long that would mean a business will loose eight working hours every week which in essence is a whole working day.

The Department of Minerals and Energy has announced that the retail price of all grades of petrol will go up on Wednesday, 5 March 2008. Petrol will go up by 61 cents per litre whilst diesel will go up by 78 cents per litre. The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will also rise by 76 cents per litre whilst the single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin will increase by 102 cents a litre.

This now means that one litre of petrol in Gauteng will cost R8.25 and R8.01 at the coast. This is astronomical! For someone with a 60 litre tank on their car, it means they will now have to pay R495 to fill up their tank in Gauteng. Read the rest of this entry »