SA stocks are taking a knock

It’s been a tough month for South African stocks.

The rand’s gain has sent traders spilling out of shares of companies that generate dollar earnings, which make up almost a third of the benchmark FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index.

In addition, foreign investors have cut holdings of South African equities amid a sell-off of emerging-market assets triggered by rising US Treasury rates and escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

“Rand-hedges are under some pressure now,” said Peter Takaendesa, a portfolio manager at Cape Town-based Mergence Investment Managers. “South African shares as a whole haven’t been immune to the general risk-off in emerging-market stocks.”

The benchmark gauge is down 3.1% since June 15, with mining companies including Sibanye Gold and Impala Platinum among the worst performers as the rand gained 1.8% against the dollar.

In that period, foreigners were net sellers of South African equities for 12 days out of 21, cutting inflows this year to R14.4 billion ($1.1 billion). – Bloomberg

Moneyweb

For a number of years, AfroCentric has carried a provision on its balance sheet for a potential liability of R8.35 million. This relates to a claim dating back to 2007 against its subsidiary Medscheme, the country’s second-largest medical schemes administrator.

The claim was lodged by Neil Harvey & Associates (NHA), a supplier of specialist IT solutions. NHA alleges that while Medscheme was using its software between 2003 and 2006, it copied its source code and misappropriated its confidential information to develop its own solution.