This week saw De Beers report that diamond prices had risen above their pre-crisis levels while India's Tata Motors announced it would build a new plant in SA. Meanwhile, upscale property on Cape Town's Atlantic Coast has slumped and BRIC growth has been revised downwards.

The Good...

•DIAMOND prices are above pre-crisis levels after a 35% to 40% rise so far this year, De Beers executive director Stephen Lussier said on Friday. "Diamonds are more scarce than before the crisis. And there are three markets where demand is very strong: China, India and the US. The US still represents 40% of global demand," he said, adding that Americans had rediscovered diamonds as a form of diversification investment.

•Tata Motors, India's largest vehicle maker, is looking to set up a vehicle assembly unit in SA later this month, the company said on Friday. Spokesman Debasis Ray said more details would follow at a formal launch on July 22.

•National oil company PetroSA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation. The two parastatals will explore opportunities in oil and gas in SA and the rest of the continent.

•Foreigners were net buyers of SA assets last week, buying more stocks than bonds for the first time in nearly two months. Foreign purchases of equities totalled R1.5-billion last week, while debt purchases came to R300-million, according to the JSE.

•SA's economy is expected to grow 3.6% this year and 4.3% in 2012, according to a new report. However, the report says the government still needs to tackle public health, provide quality of education, and reduce unemployment."Infrastructure bottlenecks and labour market constraints are likely to prevent a return to pre-crisis growth rates, " says the report, which was co-authored by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre, the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

•Metorex said on Tuesday it had received a $1.32-billion offer from China's Jinchuan Group, trumping by 22% a bid by Brazilian giant Vale SA and lifting its share price by more than 8%.

•State-owned arms manufacturer Denel achieved a net profit of R111-million for the year to March and generated cash of R178-million from its operations. This is the first time since 2001 that Denel is in the black.

•Industrial conglomerate Bidvest Group said it had received unsolicited proposals for its food-service unit, sending its shares surging 5%.

•Kumba Iron Ore said it expected a rise in first-half earnings thanks to higher iron ore export prices. Kumba, the world's 10th-largest iron ore producer and a unit of Anglo American, said it expects headline earnings per share for the six months to end-June at between R26.80 and R28.70. This compares with R20.28 reported a year earlier.

•SA's net gold and foreign exchange reserves rose to $47.162-billion at the end of June from $45.864-billion in May, data from the Reserve Bank show.

The Bad...

•PROPERTY sales activity along Cape Town's Atlantic coast has slowed this year after a surge in 2010, Lew Geffen, Sotheby's International Realty in SA chairman, said on Friday. Activity was mostly confined to properties that had been on the market for a long time and were now being sold for much less than their original asking prices, he said."The only real life in this market at the moment is coming from investors with the means and foresight to buy trophy properties at a huge discount."

•Fitch revised down its growth forecast for the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in 2011 to 6.9% from 7.1% in the June edition of its Global Economic Outlook. The ratings agency said the SA construction and manufacturing industries would continue to be under operating pressure in the near term with "limited upside momentum in the operating profiles expected in 2011".

•Group Five said it expected its full-year earnings to fall sharply, sending its share price lower. SA's fourth-largest construction group said it expected diluted headline earnings per share to fall 50% to between 253c and 309c."The slowdown within the construction sector in the last two years following the global market crisis has worsened trading conditions in the construction and materials markets in which Group Five operates," it said.

•SA's business confidence index rose by one index point to 86.8 points in June from 85.8 in May, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. But the driver behind the improvement in confidence was fragile and the strength of economic improvements, including expenditure, was weak. "The sustainability of the consumption spending patterns is dubious and may contribute to a false sense of improved business confidence," Sacci said.

•Airport tariffs will increase by not more than 37% in the coming three years, said Regulating Committee member Unathi Mntonintshi. "There is no exact nominal amount. As regulator, we just discharge specific increases that need to be implemented by Acsa (Airports Company SA)."

•Underground operations at Northam Platinum's Zondereinde division were suspended on Thursday following the death of a worker in an underground locomotive accident, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said.

•The liquidation case against Aurora Gold East Rand, a subsidiary of Aurora Empowerment Systems, was postponed in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday. The mining company had not filed its opposing papers by the June 21 deadline, said Gideon du Plessis, general secretary of the union Solidarity. Solidarity served Aurora with liquidation papers in May after it failed to pay more than R3-million in wages it allegedly owed 42 miners.