South Africa Leading Index Rises In February

(RTTNews) - South Africa's composite leading index improved for the first time in three months in February, survey data from the South African Reserve Bank showed on Tuesday.

The composite leading index climbed 1.7 percent month-on-month to 112.8 in February from 110.9 in January.

Compared to a year ago, the index declined 0.9 percent, versus a fall of 2.9 percent in January.

In February, five out of ten of the component time series increased, outweighing decreases in the remaining five, the survey said.

The largest positive contributors were an acceleration in the six-month smoothed growth rate in job advertisement space and an increase in the number of residential building plans approved.

Data showed that the coincident index weakened slightly to 92.8 in January from 93.0 a month ago.

Meanwhile, the lagging indicator also rose to 108.7 in January from 107.3 in the previous month.