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Gold and Copper Give Luster to South Africa MARKETPLACE By Bloomberg

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 09:00 CST

Foreign investment in South African stocks reached a 10-year high in 2005 as gold and copper prices rallied, lifting demand for shares of mining companies like Anglo American and BHP Billiton. Net stock purchases by foreign investors climbed 54 percent to 50.5 billion rand, or $8 billion, the most since investment controls ended in 1995, Johannesburg-based JSE Ltd., the operator of the nation's stock exchange, said Tuesday. Foreigners had purchased a net 32.9 billion rand in 2004 after selling 429 million rand in 2003

. The benchmark FTSE/JSE Africa All Share index advanced 43 percent in 2005, reaching a record 18,312.14 on Dec. 27. Copper and crude oil prices set records last year while gold and platinum reached the highest levels in 24 years. "We had nice inflows into the gold funds we manage," said Peter Braendle, a fund manager at Swisscanto Asset Management. Anglo American, owner of half of AngloGold Ashanti, the world's No. 2 gold producer after Barrick Gold, and three-quarters of Anglo Platinum, the biggest platinum company, advanced 60 percent in 2005. BHP Billiton, which gets 18 percent of its pretax profit from oil and gas and is one of the world's biggest copper companies, surged 57 percent in the period. Still, the strengthening rand may curb mining companies' profitability, Braendle said. South Africa's currency gained 8.6 percent against the dollar in the last six months of 2005, increasing costs for mining companies.

Source: International Herald Tribune

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