Panic-buying as S.African petrol wage talks resume

(Reuters) - A six-day-old strike by South African fuel workers caused petrol shortages and panic-buying on Saturday when wage talks resumed.

Motorists were queuing up to 30 minutes to fill up at the few petrol stations that had not run dry.


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S.Africa artisans' union gets coal strike permission

(Reuters) - South African union Solidarity has received a certificate that allows it to launch a strike in the coal mining industry, the union said on Friday.

South African coal industry sources said that because Solidarity represents artisans or skilled workers, a strike by Solidarity would be likely to have more impact on coal production than that by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) which represents mostly unskilled workers.


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Polish Zloty Set for Weekly Gain as Investors' Appetite for Risk Revives

(Bloomberg) -- The Polish zloty was poised for a
weekly gain, advancing to an eight-day high against the euro as
investors regained their appetite for emerging-market assets.

Investors resumed buying stocks and higher-yielding
currencies such as the zloty, the Turkish lira and the South
African rand as concern abated that losses on U.S. subprime
mortgages would slow global economic growth.


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South African Rand Posts Biggest Weekly Decline in 5 Months on Global Risk

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's rand had its biggest
weekly slide against the dollar in almost five months as global
stocks slumped and investors sold emerging-market assets.

The rand also dropped against the yen and the Swiss franc
as investors sold South African stocks and bonds to unwind so-
called carry trades. Government debt declined for a third week
as traders raised cash to pay back loans in yen and francs used
to fund purchases of emerging-market securities.


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S.African stocks tumble to 3-week low, miners hit

(Reuters) - South African blue-chip stocks tumbled as much as 2.2 percent to their lowest level in more than three weeks as softer metal prices hit mining stocks and weaker global equities hurt broader sentiment.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks fell 1.98 percent to 25,809.55 points -- its lowest level since July 2. The Johannesburg All-share index slid 1.88 percent to 28,559.50 points.


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Anglo, BHP, Standard Bank pull S.Africa bourse down

(Reuters) - Anglo American led volatile South African shares lower on Wednesday as base metal prices slipped, and the market was further weakened by local interest rate hike concerns and a decline on Wall Street.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks fell 1.77 percent at 26,331.06 points. The broader All-share index dropped 1.64 percent to 29,105.27 points.


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Zimbabwe imports 200,000 tonnes of Tanzania maize

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe is importing 200,000 tonnes of maize from Tanzania as it battles food shortages which critics largely blame on President Robert Mugabe's policies, state television said on Wednesday.

Critics say Mugabe plunged the southern African state into economic crisis by seizing productive white-owned commercial farms and giving them to inexperienced black farmers who have left the country needing to import food since 2000.


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Kenya clears five firms to bid for telecoms link

(Reuters) - Kenya's telecoms regulator on Tuesday said five telecoms firms had qualified to bid for the construction of a submarine fibre-optic cable linking its coast to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Kenya has already set aside one billion shillings for the $100 million project known as The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) and has invited private east African operators to raise the remainder as partners in the project.


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Burundi coffee sales up 400 pct on output - board

(Reuters) - Burundi's coffee earnings jumped 400 percent to $58.2 million in 2006/07 on higher production compared with the previous season, an official from the state-run coffee board said on Monday.

The Burundi Coffee Board (OCIBU) said it sold 29,951 tonnes of beans in 2006/07 versus 6,178 tonnes the previous season when the tiny central African country earned $11.6 million.


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Nedbank shares surge on StanChart talks report

(Reuters) - Shares in South Africa's fourth-biggest bank, Nedbank Group Ltd, jumped six percent on Thursday after a report that Standard Chartered was in talks to acquire the group.

Nedbank shares rose as much as 6.25 percent to 144.50 rand, adding 3.9 billion rand to its market value, after Business Day quoted unnamed sources as saying the South African bank had been in talks with Standard Chartered for some time.


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High River revives Burkina's commercial gold sector

(Reuters) - High River Gold Mines Ltd has poured its first gold in Burkina Faso, reviving commercial gold mining in the West African country after an eight-year halt, the Canadian-listed company said on Wednesday.

The mine is the first of three due to be commissioned this year, kick-starting the sector in the impoverished country between Ghana and Mali, Africa's second and third biggest gold producers after world No. 1 South Africa.


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Rand stagnant versus dollar, lacks impetus

(Reuters) - The South African rand remained caught in tight ranges against the dollar on Tuesday amid a lack of market moving domestic economic data, traders said.

The local currency was at 6.9630 to the dollar at 1520 GMT, 0.2 percent firmer than Monday's close of 6.9750 after trading between 6.9570 and 6.9925 during the session.


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Mboweni:Zimbabwe far from joining rand union - report

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe is a long way from being ready to join southern Africa's rand monetary union, South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni was quoted as saying on Monday.

"A very high degree of macro-economic convergence is necessary. They have a very long way to go," he told South African news agency I-Net Bridge.


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UPDATE 1-Gecamines seeks advice on Camec bid for Katanga

(Reuters) - Katanga controls a partnership between Gecamines and
Kinross-Forrest Ltd formed to restart production at a
Kamoto mine through a company called Kamoto Copper Co ,
Gecamines said in a statement.




Gecamines said if Central African Mining & Exploration Co
buys Katanga it would have the effect of introducing a
new partner into the KCC project.


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Uganda coffee output to rise 14 pct in 2007

(Reuters) - Uganda's coffee production is expected to increase by about 14 percent to at least 2.5 million 60 kg-bags in 2007 from 2.2 million previously, the coffee board said on Thursday.

The east African nation has seen coffee exports and earnings rise this year, as production recovered from a 2006 drought.


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Cash machine attacks have S.Africa banks stumped

(Reuters) - Blowing up cash dispensers is becoming a favourite tactic of South African bank robbers, and the country's embattled police as well as its banks are struggling to find a way to prevent it.

Banks report a dramatic rise in this type of crime over the past three years. In the past two weeks alone, five attacks on cash machines have been reported in the coastal city of Durban and police say they have made no arrests.


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Central African to Make $1.56 Billion All-Stock Offer for Katanga Mining

(Bloomberg) -- Central African Mining & Exploration
Co., a miner of copper in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
said it will make an all-stock bid for Katanga Mining Ltd. that
values the company at 773.1 million pounds ($1.56 billion).

Central African, based in London, will offer 15 of its
shares for each share of Toronto-based Katanga, it said today in
a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service. It
already owns 22 percent of Katanga, it added.


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Slovak Koruna Gains Versus Euro on Quicker-Than-Forecast Industrial Growth

(Bloomberg) -- The Slovak koruna advanced to a 2 1/2
month high against the euro after a government report showed
industrial output grew quicker than forecast in May.

The koruna was the best performer today of European and
African currencies after the government's statistical office said
factory production, adjusted for working days, grew 17.4 percent,
mainly driven by exports. The report underpinned expectations of
an improvement in the currency's current account.


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Rand to Gain 12.5 Percent Versus Yen on Uridashi Bond Sales, Okasan Says

(Bloomberg) -- The rand may gain 12.5 percent
against the yen after a three-fold increase in sales of South
African bonds to Japanese investors, said Tsutomu Soma, a
dealer at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo.

The currency has risen 3.8 percent versus the yen in
2007 as the difference in yield between two-year South
African and Japanese bonds widened to a three-year high of
8.462 percentage points. Sales of rand Uridashi bonds, local
currency debt sold to individual investors in Japan, climbed
248 percent to $652.9 million in the first half from a year
earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.


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Rand firmer despite dollar-positive data

(Reuters) - The South African rand was a touch firmer against the dollar late on Friday despite the release of dollar-friendly U.S. jobs data, which eased concerns about an interest rate cut in the world's biggest economy.

U.S. employers added 132,000 new jobs in June, more than expected, and also boosted payrolls more strongly than previously thought in April and May.


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