FTSE flat ahead of BoE rate decision, miners up

Britain's FTSE 100 index was flat by mid-session on Wednesday as gains in mining stocks, buoyed by BHP Billiton's results, were offset by concerns over interest rates ahead of a key Bank of England meeting.

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, was the biggest gainer, up 4.1 percent after it announced a 41 percent jump in first-half profit and earmarked an extra $10 billion for share buybacks.

Fellow miners also rose, with Vedanta Resources up 2.3 percent, Kazakhmys tacking on 0.5 percent, Anglo American rising 1 percent and Xstrata adding 0.5 percent.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Mvela Resources sees H1 loss

South African black-owned mining group Mvelaphanda Resources expects to post a first-half basic and headline loss of 590-610 cents due to a fair value adjustment on its stake in Gold Fields.

The company said the loss in the six months to end December compared to a basic profit of 562 cents per share and a headline profit of 622 cents per share in the year-ago period.

The loss was due to an 18 percent slide in Gold Field shares between June 30 and December 30. It said the fair value adjustment had no impact on Mvela's cash flow.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Primedia gets $835 mln buy-out approach

South African media firm Primedia has received a takeover proposal from a consortium led by its chief executive, the company said on Wednesday, sending its shares up more than 7 percent.

Primedia said the consortium had proposed offering 25.50 rand per ordinary share and 24.50 rand per N share, valuing the company at almost 6 billion rand.

Shareholders holding 66.3 percent of the ordinary shares -- excluding those held by the consortium -- and 35.8 percent of the N shares have agreed to back the deal, it said

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Oops, the secret's out The small share bigger investors want - but can’t get.

Unit trust fund managers have been hoping to get their hands on a tantalising small cap - but there are not enough of them out there.

Hudaco Industries, a group of companies specialising in industrial and security products, is on the buy list of some funds and is already in the portfolios of a number of astute fund managers.

Read more at Moneyweb.co.za

Shoprite sees H1 earnings up 25-35 pct

Africa's largest grocery retailer Shoprite said on Wednesday it expected first-half diluted headline earnings per share (EPS) on continued operations to rise between 20-30 percent.

Shoprite said it expected both basic and diluted EPS and headline EPS on all operations for the six months to end-December to be between 25-35 percent higher.

Last month, Shoprite said first-half sales rose 14.7 percent to 19.1 billion rand.

The firm said sales at its non-South African stores jumped 29.8 percent in rand terms, boosted by new stores in Angola and Nigeria.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

European shares lifted by Peugeot, Billiton

European shares rose slightly in early trade on Wednesday, extending Tuesday's gains, lifted by French car maker Peugeot and mining giant BHP Billiton.

Among major movers, PSA Peugeot Citroen rose 2.8 percent after posting a smaller decline in its 2006 consolidated operating margin than analysts had forecast.

Also on the upside, shares in BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, rose 4.5 percent after setting an extra $10 billion in share buybacks.

By 0929 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,545.12 after closing 0.3 percent up at 1,543.08 points on Tuesday.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Place Forex Orders Properly

When you place orders with a forex broker, it is extremely important that you know how to place them appropriately. Orders should be placed according to how you are going to trade - that is, how you intend to enter and exit the market. Improper order placement can skew your entry and exit points. In this article, we'll cover some of the most common forex order types.

Read the Full article at investopedia.com

S.Africa looks to bolster mining exploration

South Africa may introduce "flow-through shares" to bolster flagging mining exploration, the chief economist at the Chamber of Mines told parliament on Wednesday.

The possible new rules would allow junior companies to issue shares which enable investors to get a tax deduction for the expenses of an exploration company.

Mining contributes about 6.2 percent to South Africa's gross domestic product, with export earnings generating some 145 billion rand to Africa's biggest economy.

But the sector is recovering from a rocky patch which saw investment in local mining decline despite a commodity boom and an increase in global exploration expenditure.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Avg house costs R811K

The current declining trend in both nominal and real house price growth is forecast to continue in 2007, with lower nominal growth in house prices of 9.1% projected for this year compared with 2006, Absa Group Economic Research said in its Residential Property Perspective released on Wednesday.

Read more at FIN24.co.za