Business

Unite to make SA investor friendly ­ AHI
PRETORIA -- The AHI said yesterday it was disappointed by the gross domestic product having fallen to an annualised 2% during the first quarter. What was lacking, the business chamber said in a statement, was a purposeful and united effort to mak...

JSE claws back to positive area
JOHANNESBURG -- The JSE ended in positive territory yesterday after languishing in the red for most of the day. A late buying spree sparked by a positive US opening saw gains in industrial and platinum counters, with gold and information technolog...

De Beers, Angola appear ready to resolve dispute
LUANDA -- The Angolan government and South African diamond giant De Beers appeared to be headed yesterday towards settling a dispute that led the gem company to unilaterally suspend all investments and operations here last week. In its first publ...

SAB buys 3 more breweries in China
JOHANNESBURG -- London-listed SA Breweries plc said yesterday it had, through its Chinese joint venture company CRE Beverage (Creb), acquired three new breweries in the world's most populous nation. According to an SAB statement Creb acquired the...

Africans told to watch debt, entice growth
VALENCIA, Spain -- The African Development Bank yesterday urged governments to reign in spending, ensure democracy and promote private investment to break the cycle of poverty, after its first ever annual meeting outside the continent. Faced with...

SA liquidations up 32,6% in 4 months
JOHANNESBURG -- The number of South African liquidations recorded in the first four months of 2001 increased by 32,6% (from 1021 to 1354) compared with the first four months of 2000, Statistics South Africa reported yesterday. Stats SA said that ...

King Consolidated reports R1,6m loss for 2000/1
JOHANNESBURG -- Restaurants, pubs and fast food group King Consolidated reported a R1,6 million net attributable loss for the year to the end of February. Worse than the R1,3m loss reported last year, the poor performance translated into a headli...

Banks, police join in fighting crime
PRETORIA -- The SA Police Service (SAPS) and the Banking Council of SA (BCSA) signed an agreement which would enable the two organisations to jointly fight bank-related crimes, SAPS spokeswoman Sally de Beer said yesterday. De Beer said the pact...

Trade surplus in April up R4,2bn
JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa recorded a trade surplus of R4,256billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) trading partners in April. This compares with the R3,783bn surplus in March according to the latest Customs and Ex...

Wholesale sales up 3,6%
JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa's seasonally adjusted real wholesale trade sales, excluding diamonds, grew 3,6% in first quarter 2001 compared with the previous quarter, Statistics South Africa said. Compared with first quarter 2000, real wholesale ...

Nedlac plans financial sector indaba
JOHANNESBURG -- The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) met with its constituencies, government, business, labour and community representatives yesterday regarding a summit later in the year on the transformation of the finan...

Inefficient govt, crime frustrate business ­ DTI
JOHANNESBURG -- Crime and an inefficient government were the two greatest obstacles to business in South Africa, Department of Trade and Industry director-general Alistair Ruiters said yesterday. Problems with access to finance and capital were l...

NEW HIGHS and LOWS
NEW HIGHS PRICEPREV ANGLOPLAT-23136-24036 ASSORE 37003600 MESSINA 53505100 M&R HLD 600580 A E C I 17601750 SASOL 80007900 REUNERT 16401605 INMINS 6055 BATEPRO 550501 KPM 37503640 DB AMS C2172162 SG SOL C1295285 DB SOL C2266256...

JSE SECURITIES EXCHANGE at the close
SecurityRuling Day's price move MINING COAL CENTURY10 WANKIE22 DIAMONDS AFGEM150 DE-BEERSP3200SUS DE-BEERS35180SUS TRNSHEX1480-5 GOLD ANGGOLD29600-500 AVGOLD465-10 DBNDP-BO98-4 DBN-DEEP890-20 EERSLNG40 GFIELDS3340-120 HARMONY-O55 HARMONY4095-2...

RATES OF EXCHANGE
JOHANNESBURG -- Yesterday's closing exchange rates, as supplied by Standard Bank: (R/, R/US$ and R/Irish punt, other rates per rand.) BRITISH STERLING11.6399 EURO CURR UNIT6.9679 IRISH POUND8.8467 UNITED STATES DOLLAR8.1150 ARAB EMIRATES DIR.4...

SHIPPING
EAST LONDON -- In port last night: Nil. Arrived yesterday: Nil. Sailed yesterday: Dal East London (1314) to Cape Town. Due today: Nil. Eastern Cape   South Africa   Foreign  &n...

UNIT TRUSTS
JOHANNESBURG - Yesterday's quotations for Mutual Funds were: FUND NAMEBUYSELL ABSA Fund Managers: Aggressive FoF136,78130,76 Balanced A133,84125,80 Balanced R133,98125,93 Fincl&Ind Index102,5096,34 Flexible116,92109,90 General A233,58219,55 G...