South Africa

The gloss has come off the emerging markets' story in the past year or so. Performance has disappointed, and of the BRIC countries, only India appears to be a story investors want to talk about positively.

The ‘exploitable anomalies’ revealed by political uncertainty

Moving up the ranks of global competitiveness

With globalisation under pressure, Samy Chaar, strategist at Lombard Odier Investment Management, asks if a new mantra of regionalisation and non-dollar currency trading could become the norm

Investec is considering the sale of Kensington, its intermediary mortgage business in the UK, and has appointed Fenchurch Advisory to conduct the procedure.

The leaders of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are planning a $100bn (£65bn) fund to protect against financial shocks.

Nitesh Shah, research analyst at ETF Securities, says while the price of gold has dipped recently, other precious metals could provide investors with a good return as economic conditions improve.

COMMODITIES

Investec has reported its results for the half year to 30 September, a period which saw its business impacted by a depreciation in the South African rand.

BOUTIQUE FOCUS