Stocks fall, but recover from heavy early losses

Stocks fell Thursday morning, recovering slightly from deep declines amid more losses in Asian and European markets

Stocks fell Thursday morning, recovering slightly from deep declines amid more losses in Asian and European markets, mixed economic data, comments from a Japanese official about the yen and more concerns about the subprime-lending industry.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66.01 to 12202.62. The S&P 500 lost 8.37 to 1398.35, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 25.14 to 2391.01.

Asian-Pacific shares ended mixed Thursday, with China and Japan declining. The Shanghai's stock market was back to its losing ways on Thursday, dropping 2.9%, and the Nikkei 225 finished 0.9% lower in Tokyo. European markets also turned lower, with London's FTSE 100 down 1.5%.

Read more at MoneyWeb.co.za

SA office rentals 'dirt cheap'

Spare a thought for tenants in London's West End - the world's most expensive office location - who now have to cough up the equivalent of more than R1 200/m² a month for a prime business address.
That compares with a rather modest R117/m² in Sandton, South Africa's most expensive office location.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

Rand continues downward spiral

The rand extended losses against the dollar on Thursday, hitting a seven-week low on renewed emerging market nervousness and falling stock markets.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

House price growth to slow

Residential house price growth, which hit more than 30% year-on-year in 2004, should continue moderating as higher interest rates dampen consumer demand, a survey showed on Thursday.

The Standard Bank monthly property gauge indicated house price growth rose to 8.4% year-on-year in February from 6.9% in January.

But the rise was largely attributed to the low base of the same month last year, with no month-on-month growth in prices, after price growth slowed steadily in 2005 and 2006.

The median house price remained at R570 000, the survey showed.

Read more at FIN24.co.za