Demand rises, confidence falls
SOUTH Africa’s HSBC purchasing managers’ index climbed to 51.6 in March — a five-month high — from 50.0 in February, boosted by private sector companies reporting a rise in domestic demand.
OFFSHORE investors bought a net R7.4-billion worth of South African stocks in the week ended April 2 and a net R6.3-billion in South African bonds, according to data from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
MINING production rose 7.5% year on year in February from a revised drop of 2.3% in January, Stats SA data showed. The main contributors to the rise were iron ore‚ platinum group metals and manganese ore.
THE number of initial public offerings on the JSE in the first quarter accelerated to levels not seen since the 2008 global financial crisis as the benchmark index rose to a record and companies took advantage of the rally.
THE Reserve Bank said it had signed a threeyear bilateral swap agreement with the People’s Bank of China for the exchange of local currencies of up to R57-billion, to support trade and investment between the countries.
THE SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s business confidence index fell to 89.1 in March from 92.8 in February amid the threat of labour stoppages and uncertainty over property rights laws.
NET gold and foreign exchange reserves fell to $41.27-billion (R495billion) in March from $41.92-billion in February, the Reserve Bank said. Gross reserves were also down, at $46.43-billion from $47.19-billion.
THE Treasury is sticking to its guns on implementing the carbon tax from next year‚ dashing the hopes of business that there might be further delays to the measure it believes will add another burden to the economy.
SOUTH Africa, the continent’s largest producer of maize, imported the yellow variety for the first time in almost a year as drought curbed production, buying 21 137 tons from Argentina in the week ended April 3.
MANUFACTURING production contracted 0.5% year on year in February after a revised 2.4% contraction in January, Stats SA data showed. On a month-onmonth basis, factory output rose by 0.7%.