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For a story, double click on [ID:nL5507535] SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETS South Africa's rand firmed to a new 7-month high against thedollar on Monday and local stocks gained for a third day asappetite for risk increased on hopes that the global economy wasstarting to stabilise. The JSE Top-40 index .JTOPI of blue chips climbed 3.79percent to 19,215.94 points, the best level in over two weeks.The broader All-share indexended 3.57 percent higherat 21,383.43 points. For Monday's South African financial markets closing report,double click on [ID:nL4116369] ABIL (ABLJ.J) South Africa's biggest mass market lender African BankInvestments Ltd (Abil) (ABLJ.J) has appointed its chieffinancial officer, Nithiananthan Nalliah, group financialdirector, it said on Monday. ALTRON (ATNJ.J) South African IT holding firm Allied Electronics (Altron)(ATNJ.J) expects a challenging first half after it reported a 27percent drop in full-year headline earnings per share onTuesday. For a story, double click on [ID:nL5338559] DATATEC (DTCJ.J) South African IT firm Datatec Ltd (DTCJ.J) forecastfull-year headline earnings per share of 36 U.S. cents onTuesday, boosted by additional profits of $16.8 million for theyear to end February.

Underlying earnings are still expected to be between 31 and35 U.S cents per share The firm will report its results on May 14. MERAFE (MRFJ.J) South African ferrochrome producer Merafe Resources (MRFJ.J)said on Tuesday output from its chrome joint venture withXstratra (XTA.L) fell 76 percent compared with the same periodlast year. For a story, double click on [ID:nL5933178] SPAR (SPPJ.J) South African grocery chain Spar Group (SPPJ.J) reported a20.5 percent rise in first-half headline earnings per share onTuesday, but expects turnover growth to slow in the second halfdue to the economic slowdown. Spar said headline EPS for the six months to end March stoodat 242.5 cents, in line with its forecast of a 20 to 22 percentrise. Operating profit was 21.9 percent higher to 605.1 millionrand. For a story, double click on [ID:nL5287070] NERSA South Africa's regulator (NERSA) reduced tariffs fortransport of petroleum products via Transnet's [TRAN.UL]pipelines despite a plea from the rail and logistics firm for asubstantial hike, NERSA said on Monday. NERSA said it would reduce the tariffs by 10.38 percent forthe 2009/10 financial year, resulting in a 1.37 cents per litrereduction in the Gauteng province's petrol price.

For a story, double click on [ID:nL4690922] GOLD XAU= Gold held firm above $900 an ounce on Tuesday after a weakerU.S. dollar and higher oil prices lured investors back into themetal, although an increase in risk appetite and reboundingstock markets checked gains. Bullion jumped almost 2 percent on Monday in a rally alsodriven by demand from jewellers in main consumer India andpent-up buying ahead of closely watched results of stress testson U.S banks Other precious metals tracked gold higher. For the latest precious metals report, double click on[GOL/] WALL STREET U.S. stocks rallied on Monday, driving the S&P 500 intopositive territory for the year as investors bet banks' capitalshortfalls may be manageable and housing data fueled hopes therecession is easing. Bank stocks were the standouts, with Citigroup (C.N) up 7.7percent at $3.20 and Bank of America (BAC.N) climbing 19.3percent to $10.38. Wells Fargo (WFC.N) jumped 23.7 percent to$24.25, while JPMorgan (JPM.N) shot up 10.2 percent to $35.79.