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South Africa’s targeted consumer inflation quickened to its highest level in 15 months in June, data showed on Wednesday, but this was in line with market expectations and not likely to persuade the Reserve Bank against leaving interest rates unchanged.

CPI quickened to 5% year-on-year in June — bang in line with forecasts– from 4.6% in May, and slowed as expected to 0.4% month-on-month from 0.5%, Statistics South Africa data showed.

Government bonds extended their gains, but traders said this was more in response to the firmer rand on the day, as investor aversion to risk assets abates a little.

The yield on the 2015 bond fell to 7.46%, down 4.5 basis points on the day, from 7.506% prior to the CPI date.

Food inflation remained the main driver of the increase in overall CPI, rising to 7.1% year-on-year from 6.1% in May.

Analysts said the Reserve Bank would most likely still hold its repo rate steady at 5.5% when it concludes a three day policy meeting on Thursday.

“We still expect the MPC to maintain its wait-and-see policy until there is greater evidence of ‘more generalized inflation’, either due to second-round effects from higher commodity prices or price pressures emanating from firmer domestic demand,” Nedbank said.

“Latest statistics on local and international growth have not been encouraging and we would therefore still expect the Reserve Bank … Read more…

There was an 8.3% increase in the number of high net-worth individuals (HNWI) last year.

The 10.9 million dollar millionaires — each with at least $1-million to invest — boast assets in the region of $42.7-trillion. This is according to the World Wealth Report 2011, distributed by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.

The good news for Africa is that our HNWI tally is growing faster than the global average, up by 11% over the same period. The people mentioned in the World Wealth Report didn’t make the ‘rich list’ overnight.

“Wealth accumulation takes place over time,” says Lara Warburton, MD of Imara Asset Management, South Africa. “And it is interesting that wealthy individuals — often financial directors with plenty of money smarts — are happy to trust a professional wealth advisor, while those who know much less about investing prefer to do it themselves.”

The rich become richer because they understand their limitations and focus on making new money rather than on ‘nuts and bolts’ investment decisions. Read more…

Workers in the coal sector will go on strike following failed wage negotiations, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday.

“We have deadlocked. We have received a strike certificate and we are going on strike,” spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said.

On Thursday, the NUM would give employers the necessary 48-hours notice of the strike and would discuss the date of the strike with its 150 000 members in the coal sector, he said.

“We will definitely serve notice [on Thursday], there is no question about it.”

Seshoka said the talks deadlocked after employers offered a final wage increase of 7%. The union was demanding 14%.

“We cannot accept that. We have totally rejected it because that is not according to our mandate,” he said.

‘Powerful’ strike
The only way to increase the wage offer was to have a “powerful strike”.

“A powerful strike is a strike that lasts more than a week. Read more…

AP Photo A protestor wearing a Rupert Murdoch mask is photographed outside parliament in London Tuesday.

LONDON — Summoned by British lawmakers Tuesday to account for a phone hacking and bribery scandal, Rupert Murdoch said he was humbled and ashamed but accepted no personal responsibility, insisting he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at a now-defunct tabloid that made up a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

The 80-year-old media tycoon endured a three-hour grilling from lawmakers and escaped attempts to tar him with individual blame for the scandal that has rocked his empire and embroiled Britain’s top police, politicians and many journalists.

Murdoch appeared confused and flustered in the beginning of the parliamentary committee hearing, turning frequently to his son James for answers. But he regained his trademark cool and confidently told the committee that he wasn’t responsible for eavesdropping or bribing police. H

Read more…

Apple Inc shares flirted with a record $400 on Wednesday, a day after the world’s most valuable technology company posted blockbuster results and triggered a spate of brokerage upgrades.

The stock set a lifetime high as a new $999 MacBook Air and $599 “Mac mini” go on sale, the latter rivaling some of the cheaper offerings from Dell Inc or Hewlett-Packard Co.

Apple’s stock climbed 3.3 percent to $389.18, bringing the makers of the iPhone and iPad within shouting distance of Exxon Mobil’s market value of more than $400 billion despite the oil and gas producer raking in more than four times Apple’s annual revenue.

In coming months, Apple is expected to roll out a new iPhone, which is likely to give the world’s most valuable technology company another shot in the arm and offer a challenge to rivals such as Google Inc and Research in Motion.

The new phone could also propel Apple to leap past Exxon.

“We expect Apple will become the largest market cap company on the planet when the stock hits approximately $445 which is only about 13 percent away from aftermarket levels,” said Gleacher & Co analyst Brian Marshall, adding that this is based on the assumption that Exxon shares remain flat.

Apple shares rose to a high of $405 in after-hours trading on Tuesday after iPhone sales and strong Asian business helped Apple’s quarterly results beat Wall Street’s expectations. Read more…

Six trade unions signed a three-year wage agreement on Monday, ending a nationwide engineering sector strike, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) said.

“The agreement provides for a staggered wage increase from 8% to 10% for skilled and unskilled hourly-paid employees respectively,” operations director Lucio Trentini said.

The strike began on July 4.

The National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) did not sign the agreement because its request for a lower entry-level grade for new employees was not met.

Trentini said this would be addressed by the industry policy forum (IPF), to be established as part of the agreement.

About 170 000 workers from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the Metal and Electrical Workers’ Union, and the South African Equity Workers’ Association joined in the strike.

They demanded a wage increase of between 10% and 13%, and a ban on labour brokers.

Solidarity had threatened to join the engineering strike, but this was averted when employers in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council reviewed their wage offer to the union last week. Read more…