The Markets | - Part 152

Rand’s on a High as Commodities, Politics and Greenback Team Up

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The stars are aligned for South Africa’s rand as it enters the new year. Not only are investors backing the currency on prospects that market favourite Cyril Ramaphosa may soon become the country’s leader, but the ailing dollar and rising commodity prices are playing along. The rand touched its strongest level in more than two years on December 28 and remained near that level on Tuesday. The Bloomberg Commodity Index climbed to a…

Tunisia SE Falls 0.6%; Banque Internationale Tunisie Leads

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TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Tunisia Stock Exchange Tunindex fell 0.6 percent to 6,241.96. The move was the biggest since falling 0.7 percent on Sept. 26 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.3 percent. The MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index advanced 0.9 percent. Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie contributed the most to the decline, falling 3.3 percent. Societe Ciments de Bizerte decreased 5.3 percent, the biggest loss. Arab Tunisian Lease rose 2.6…

South Africa’s New Man Has a Daunting Task Pleasing Markets

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investors got what they wanted in South Africa when Cyril Ramaphosa became the ruling party’s new leader, putting himself in prime position to be the nation’s next president. Now comes the difficult part. He’ll be hard pressed to turn around a struggling economy, avoid more rating downgrades and ease political tensions, according to AllianceBernstein LP and Credit Suisse Group AG. That means the rand will struggle to sustain the 14 percent…

South Africa Power Price to Rise 5.2%, Less Than Eskom Asked

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s energy regulator gave the state-owned power utility permission to raise its prices by an average of 5.2 percent from April 1, three quarters less than what the cash-strapped company had asked for. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which generates almost all of the nation’s electricity, had asked the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to allow it to increase tariffs by an average of 20 percent. Nersa Chairman Jacob…

Shoprite Deal Unravels as Billionaire Scurries to Save Steinhoff

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The spectacular collapse in the share price of Steinhoff International Holdings NV is hindering Christo Wiese’s plans to pool his African retail assets. The South African billionaire has had to pull out of a deal that will give Steinhoff Africa Retail Ltd. a 23.1 percent stake and a 50.6 percent voting interest in Shoprite Holdings Ltd., the continent’s largest grocery chain. Steinhoff Africa Retail, or STAR, is now in talks with the manager of…

Oil Deal May Win Back Sudan Some Influence Over Former Enemy

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KHARTOUM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sudan lost three-quarters of its oil reserves when the south seceded in 2011. A four-year civil war in Africa’s youngest nation may be letting it reassert control. Electricity, building materials, safe lodgings for workers — South Sudan’s former ruler is offering them all to help restore output in a key northern region. That shows how vital sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest oil reserves remain to Sudan, whose landlocked neighbour pays it $25…

The Hot Spots That Defined a Year of Emerging-Market Ebullience

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – 2017 is set to go down as the year when easy monetary policy and budding global growth came together to deliver blockbuster returns for the world’s emerging markets. Currencies and stocks in developing economies are on track for their biggest rallies in eight years as even the riskiest markets shrug off crises and threats to deliver gains for investors. Bonds, too, have had a good run, with local-currency emerging-market debt returning the most since…

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