FRIDAY, 1.00PM
BUSINESS confidence in the second quarter fell sharply against the first three months of the year, according to Stellenbosch University’s Bureau for Economic Research.
The BER’s business confidence index fell to 34,4 in the second quarter, from 45,2 in the first, continuing a trend of falling confidence since the last quarter of 1995.
Worst-hit sectors were wholesale, motor, manufacture and building and construction.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
RAND STRENGTHENS The rand strengthened further on Thursday on aggressive buying by offshore and local institutions, pushing the local unit up to R4,5245 against the dollar, from Wednesday’s R4,5295, despite speculation that the Reserve Bank intervened as a net dollar seller to keep the rand from rising too much. The improved rand drove bond yields to new lows, with the key R150 government long bond closing at 14,095% from the previous day’s 14,245%.
JCI ‘SHOPPING FOR LOAN’ JOHANNESBURG Consolidated Investments said on Thursday it has already secured loan facilities to cover the R2,5-billion cost of buying Anglo American’s stake in Lonrho. JCI representative Marc Gonsalves said: “The money is in place if we need it, but there are other ways to cut the cake and we now have time to look around [for a better financial deal].”