20 November 2009
	Another Week

AT HOME Gold sets a new record high of US$1 134,7/oz driven by dollar weakness, while the rand strengthens to R7,381. The ANC and its allies agree to look at broadening the Reserve Bank's mandate beyond merely tackling inflation, and has formed a team to study the effects of a strong rand, says secretary-general Gwede Mantashe after an alliance meeting. New Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus chairs her first monetary policy committee meeting, which keeps the repo rate unchanged at 7%. MTN says it is to cut its workforce, and about 400 permanent employees (7%) could go by March. Home affairs says it is to review the permit system to make it easier for investors to live and work in SA. Cement producer PPC confesses to market information "sharing", not price-fixing or tender rigging, says CEO Paul Stuiver, so won't be prosecuted if it discloses all. Armscor's board asks CEO Sipho Thomo to resign but he refuses. Chairman Popo Molefe tells parliament's defence committee he gave Thomo three days to re-think. ABROAD Asian leaders' pledge to maintain stimulus spending lifts stock markets, with Standard & Poor's 500 index reaching a 13-month high. CHANG Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, at an interview in Hong Kong on Monday. China Unicom (Hong Kong), the country's second-biggest wireless company, beat bigger rival China Mobile to become the first Chinese phone company to offer the iPhone in the world's biggest communications market US industrial production and wholesale prices rose less than forecast in October, giving the Fed more reason to keep interest rates near a record low for longer. Apec leaders in Singapore quash hopes of a legally binding treaty on carbon emissions emerging at next month's Copenhagen summit. The US will seek the death penalty in a New York court for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of planning the September 11 2001 attacks. Britain plans to give regulator FSA the power to review bankers' bonuses if they take "reckless" risks. Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, grew by 1,2% in Q3, its second successive quarter of growth. European aerospace company EADS, which owns Airbus, posts an à87m ($130m) Q3 loss as the weak US dollar hit its results. It showed a à679m profit a year ago. Nigerian president Umaru Yar'Adua holds peace talks with Niger Delta separatists and promises aid for the region at a meeting attended by writer Wole Soyinka. Rolls-Royce wins a contract to supply jet aircraft engines to China and Ethiopia. The UN names July 18 as International Day in honour of Nelson Mandela's birthday. SPORT SA beat England by 84 runs in the second T20 match to square the series after losing the first match by one run on the Duckworth-Lewis method. The Springboks lose 20-13 to France in Toulouse in a game preceded by a controversial off-key rendition of the SA anthem by Durban-born singer Ras Dumisani. Novak Djokovic beats Gael Monfils 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3) to win the Paris Masters. Tiger Woods wins the Australian Masters, his seventh title of the year. Manny Pacquiao beats Miguel Cotto to win the WBO welterweight title, becoming the first boxer to win seven titles in seven weight classes.