South African Markets - Factors to watch on Aug 21

JOHANNESBURG Aug 21 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect South African markets on Friday.

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GLOBAL MARKETS

Most Asian stock markets edged higher on Friday, keeping a wary eye on volatile Chinese shares, while currency traders went on the defensive after a wild see-saw week and mixed U.S. economic data, bidding up the safe-haven.

As Shanghai moved higher, the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS pared early losses to stand little changed by 0316 GMT. Most markets in the index, however, were slightly higher with the exception of Australia .AXJO, which fell 1.5 percent after a cautious outlook on loan demand from major lender Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX). [ID:nLL237985]

SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETS

South African markets gained on Thursday, with stocks led by miners after a leap in industrial metal prices, and the rand driven by risk appetite to two-week high against the dollar.

The JSE Top-40 index of blue chips .JTOPI gained 1.42 cent to 22,190.78 points and the broader All-share index .JALSH advanced 1.41 percent to 24,601.69 points. [ID:nLK680698]

SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS

Angola's president hailed a visit by his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma on Thursday as the start of a new era to improve once-strained ties between South Africa and one of the continent's biggest oil producers.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos, closer to Zuma than to former president Thabo Mbeki, said Angola needed more qualified labour from South Africa to help rebuild infrastructure destroyed by its civil war and expand its oil and mining industries. [ID:nLK703559]

BHP BILLITON (BILJ.J)

BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), the world's largest miner, said on Thursday it did not expect to see "clean demand" for the global metals sector until early 2010 as a global slowdown bites.

Chief Executive Marius Kloppers said nickel and aluminum would not contribute as much to the group's business this year. The mining giant reported a slide in annual profit earlier this month due to a slump in metal prices and demand. [ID:nLK212585]

EXXARO (EXXJ.J)

Diversified miner Exxaro (EXXJ.J) plans to increase its coal exports this year by up to 60 percent, but may be restricted by capacity constraints on the rail line to the export terminal, it said on Thursday.

The company aims to boost coal exports to 4.8 million tonnes this year from about 3 million tonnes last year, after exporting 2.4 million tonnes in the first six months of the year, said Chief Executive Sipho Nkosi. [ID:nLK968]

MTN GROUP (MTNJ.J)

India's Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) is not considering sweetening its offer to buy a stake in South Africa's MTN, the Economic Times said on Friday, quoting the Indian telecom firm's chairman.

Bharti, India's largest mobile services operator, and MTN have been in exclusive talks since May aimed at creating the world's No. 3 mobile firm. On Thursday, the two companies extended the talks till Sept. 30. [ID:nBOM529936] and [ID:nDEL515191]

STANDARD BANK (SBKJ.J)

Africa's biggest bank by assets, Standard Bank (SBKJ.J), is optimistic it will soon get the go-ahead from Angolan authorities to open a branch in the oil-producing nation, an executive for the firm said.

The Chief Executive for Standard Bank Africa, Clive Tasker, said on Thursday the firm planned to open a full-service bank in Angola with an emphasis on corporate and investment banking. [ID:nLK85504]

GOLD XAU=

Gold held near $940 on Friday after falling the previous session, although prices looked vulnerable to declines in the absence of strong fundamentals. The precious metal has mostly traded below $950 this week, at one point falling more than 3 percent from last week's high of $960.55. Gold XAU= was at $940.15 per ounce at 0236 GMT, up 0.1 percent from the notional New York close of $939.35. [GOL/]

WALL STREET

U.S. stocks rose for a third straight session on Thursday with financial stocks leading gains after U.S. manufacturing data and a rebound in Chinese stocks reassured investors.

The Dow and the S&P 500, which suffered their worst day in about seven weeks on Monday, got a lift from signs of improvement in U.S. Mid-Atlantic manufacturing and China's stock market reversing its 20 percent drop in the last two weeks. The S&P 500 is now up about 49 percent from its 12-year closing low set on March 9. [.N]

EMERGING MARKETS

For the top emerging markets news, double click on [nTOPEMRG]

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Some of the main stories out of the South African press:

BUSINESS DAY

- Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin defends lossses at state entities

- Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel warns of blitz against fraud, rigging by business

- Banks sue more clients for debt

BUSINESS REPORT

- Industrial Development Corporation speeds up finance for rattled companies

- Zodwa Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela, snaps up Orkney gold mine

- Low volumes dent Airports Company of South Africa projects

THE STAR

- Semenya's lifelong battle

(Reporting by Gugulakhe Lourie)