France, Uruguay draw a blank

An opportunity to seize the initiative in Group A was missed at Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium as France and ten-man Uruguay served up a drab goalless draw.

The earlier stalemate between South Africa and Mexico had presented their section rivals with the chance to claim top spot, but neither did enough to secure three points in a scrappy encounter in which Nicolas Lodeiro picked up the tournament’s first red card.

France’s difficulties at UEFA EURO 2008 and during FIFA World Cup™ qualifying has enabled them to sneak almost unnoticed into this competition, yet they reminded everyone of their considerable potential with some slick early play. Predictably, Frank Ribery was at the heart of the best of their attacking forays, and only Sidney Govou will know how he failed to convert the Bayern Munich winger’s inviting low cross after eight minutes. Ribery looked to have laid on a certain goal, with Govou inside the six-yard box when the ball arrived, but the Lyon player’s right-foot attempt lacked conviction and the ball trickled wide of the far post.

Les Bleus remained in the ascendancy, and Nicolas Anelka – who endured a frustrating evening – might have done better than head over from an intelligently weighted Yoann Gourcuff cross. The presence of Diego Forlan ensured that Raymond Domenech’s side were never able to rest easy, though, and the Atletico Madrid striker underlined his capabilities on 16 minutes with an effort out of nothing. Stepping inside from the left beyond William Gallas, Forlan unleashed a powerful right-foot drive that was heading for the net before Hugo Lloris got across to make a fine save.

Nonetheless, this was an isolated moment of concern for a French side who remained firmly in control, with Abou Diaby dictating the midfield pace. Gourcuff was also impressing, and with 18 minutes played he forced an alert save from Fernando Muslera with an audacious free-kick attempt on goal, inches from the left touchline.

The game fell into something of a lull as half-time approached, but the tempo picked up again after the break, with Forlan blasting over after sneaking in between Gallas and Bacary Sagna. There was precious little penetration, however, and the growing frustration was summed up 12 minutes after the restart when Jeremy Toulalan tried his luck from all of 35 yards, bringing a comfortable save out of Muslera.

France introduced Thierry Henry in an attempt to re-establish their early superiority, but it was Uruguay who should have snatched victory, with Forlan wasting the best chance of the half, blasting wide from an unmarked position 12 yards from goal. Ultimately, however, La Celeste were happy to hold out for a point after second-half substitute Lodeiro earned a second yellow card for an ugly lunge on Sagna.

Organising Committee expresses its condolences to the Mandela Family

Johannesburg, 11 June 2010 - The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC) is saddened to learn of the death of Zenani Mandela, who was killed in a car accident last night.

Zenani Mandela (13 years old) is the great-grand-daughter of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratic President.

“On behalf of everyone at the Organising Committee, I would like to express my condolences to the Mandela family. Please know that you will all be in our thoughts today,” said OC Chairman Dr Irvin Khoza.

“Last year Zenani did us the honour of bringing the FIFA Confederations Cup trophy out onto the podium at the final at Ellis Park on 28 June. We are saddened to hear of her tragic passing and will remember her fondly,” said OC CEO Dr Danny Jordaan.

ENDS

Court bars CHRAJ from hearing M&J bribery scandal

An Accra Human Rights Court has restrained the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) from continuing with its investigation into the Mabey and Johnson bribery scandal.

The court upheld arguments by lawyers of the six persons who were the subject of the investigations that comments by the Commissioner of CHRAJ on Metro TV on the matter were prejudicial.Justice Emile Short granted the television station an interview on the issue days after opening public hearings - bedeviled by persistent objections - into the allegations that the six persons received

bribes from the UK construction firm to influence the award of contracts to the company.Lawyers of the accused - Dr Sipa Yankey, Messrs Kwame Peprah, Alhaji Baba Kamara, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Alhaji Amadu Seidu, Brigadier-General Lord Attivor and Dr Ato Quarshie - went to court arguing that the CHRAJ Commissioner had made conclusive pronouncements that amounted to prejudging their clients.They contended Mr Short and the Commission had lost the moral authority to conduct the investigations as they could not be trusted to be fair and impartial in the matter.

The court agreed with the lawyers and ruled that the Commission should excuse itself of the case because the Commissioner’s comments put him in a prejudiced situation.It said other institutions can conduct investigations into the M&J bribery scandal.After the ruling, Nana Ato Dadzie, lawyer for Dr Ato Quarshie, told Joy News’ Sammy Darko that today “is a great day for the law.”

He said his clients’ belief that the Commission was unfair to them had been confirmed by the court in its ruling.Nana Ato Dadzie stated that his clients were willing to submit themselves to any other state agency that chose to conduct further investigations into the allegations.Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

GSE makes 'worldwide' record

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) recovery has reached a phenomenal point, once again recording the highest year-to-date returns worldwide; but it seems that many local fund managers that invest on the market are still holding a 'wait and see' attitude.

The GSE's negative 46.58% return last year made it the worst performer among the general poor showing of stock markets across the world - not sparing the many equity-based funds that make their profit on the market.

The gradual recovery of the GSE from the beginning of this year came to confirm analysts' forecast that the market would bounce back to positive returns, but last week Friday's 22.96% year-to-date posted by the GSE – the highest return recorded in the world so far – has beat even the most optimistic forecasts.

Contrary to the norm, not a single fund manager has been able to beat the GSE so far; available updates by Gold Coast Securities (GCS) Research show that the NTHC Horizon Fund, which came closest to the GSE, recorded a year-to-date return of 10.46% for the same period.

Other returns made on equity-based funds were SAS Fortune Fund 10.45%; the newest on the market - the Capital Growth Fund - returned 8.17%; Gold Fund 6.18%; and HFC Equity 5.21%. Anidaso Mutual Fund, the only fund currently managed outside of the capital city, recorded a year-to-date return of 4.96% while Epack, the oldest fund on the market, returned 4.64%.

Some Funds suffered a similar fate in 2008, the year the GSE came top of the world with a 58.05% year-to-date for the year. HFC Equity Fund posted a return of 38.89% that year and Gold Fund recorded 37.32% while the Epack, owing to the abysmal performance of the other African markets where it invests, returned a woeful negative 3.84%.

Historically, fund managers' active participation on the market in the years 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007 saw them reap huge capital gains for their small fund holders .

Collins Appiah, Head of Research at GCS, the owners of Gold Fund in an interview with B&FT said the passiveness of fund managers this time round could be stemming from the fact' that the" market has just recovered from a deep recession, "and' therefore it is worthwhile that fund managers watch the market for some time before remixing portfolios where necessary," he stated.

Collins, who was optimistic the trend would reverse by close of year, added that last year's recession triggered a wave of redemption by fund holders which continued into the first quarter of this year. "It is the main factor why we have not recorded an impressive performance so far," he said.

The unimpressive performance of the funds - which invest at least 75 percent of their assets on the capital market, stand in comparison to some stocks that have outperformed the GSE.

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), which lost 32.73% last year to fall to GH¢0.74, recovered this year to GH¢1.12, representing 1.1 2% year-to-date gain. Cal Bank (Cal) lost 40% last year to GH¢0.20 but has regained to GH¢0.28, to present 40% gain so far. SIC, the biggest insurance firm, also lost 46% last year to GH¢0.27 but has now risen to GH¢0.36, the equivalent of 29.63% year-to-date gain.

Derrick Mensah, also of GCS Research, noted that equity-dominated fund managers in Ghana put not less than 45% of their investments into financial stocks, which has helped to keep their heads above water since the financial stocks have been doing extra well.

"The downside therefore is as a result of the poor showing of the other category of stocks since the year began; such as the brewery, manufacturing and lCT stocks and some of the consumer goods, and distribution and trading stocks," he noted.

According to Collins, these stocks will soon pick up when short-term interest rates and yields on fixed income securities fall further, as expected.

According to him, the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill rate - now at 13.29% - should fall further to single digits by close of year. "If this forecast by the Bank of Ghana is anything to go by, then investors should be paying more attention to the stock market for higher gains and most of these stocks would be beneficiaries," he stated.

He therefore foresees that the current favourable showing of money market funds and balanced funds as compared to equity dominated funds will most likely change in favour of the latter.

Latest updates have quoted a year-to-date return .of 21.58% on the Mfund and 20.41 % on the HFC Unit Trust, both money market funds.

Bright Quaye, also a researcher at GCS, advised investors in mutual funds and unit trusts not to de-invest too quickly at this time because fund managers are experts who are able to take far more informed decisions on their investments than they can do on their own as small fund holders.

"Fund managers are able to diversify their investments on the capital market, which helps to reduce the risk on investments to the barest minimum. As small fund holders, they may not be able to invest in blue chip stocks that earn very high returns, but buying into a mutual fund is an avenue to do so," Bright cautioned.


Source: B&FT