Eskom a bright spot in face of car, credit data

BUSINESS confidence turned the corner last month‚ rising to a sixmonth high, mainly on slightly better retail sales volumes‚ exports and share prices‚ the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. Its business confidence index rose 6.8 index points to 88.4. GLOBAL pharmaceutical company Pfizer has partnered with South Africa’s Biovac Institute to produce a potentially life-saving pneumonia vaccine for infants, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said. ESKOM does not expect to implement electricity blackouts until April 2016, CEO Brian Molefe has told parliament. “We will supply the country’s electricity and maintain our plant with minimal or no load-shedding,” he said. BULLION producer Harmony Gold has reported a smaller first-quarter loss and says it aims to wipe out its debt over the next two years. Headline loss per share totalled 120c, from a loss of 725c in the preceding quarter, it said. SOUTH Africa’s new vehicle sales fell by 8.6% year on year to 54 244 units in October, data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA showed. Exports were down 13.9% at 27 732 units compared with the same month last year, it said. THE total balance on consumer credit cards in South Africa has risen to above R115-billion for the first time in three years, research company Experian SA said. The average person with a credit card owes more than R12 000, it said. ACTIVITY in the manufacturing sector deteriorated in October‚ the Barclays purchasing managers index showed. The index‚ compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, fell to 48.1 from 49.9 index points in September. LONMIN could stop trading if its $400million cash call through a rights issue was unsuccessful, it said. Lonmin said last month it planned to raise capital in a rights issue of new shares and cut 6 000 jobs.