The 10.57-carat stone is being marketed as the most valuable purplish-pink diamond ever brought to auction, with the highest ever pre-auction price per carat estimate, according to Sotheby's.

"Its refined lines combined with the intensity of its color earn it a place as one of the world's most extraordinary gems," Tom Moses, executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer at the Gemological Institute of America said of the cushion-cut diamond.

According to Sotheby's, the stone, which was mined in Botswana, is "comparable to ultimate masterpieces of art - far rarer than a Magritte or a Warhol," thanks to its clarity and lack of imperfections.

Pink diamonds are among the rarest and most sought-after gems in the world and considered a major draw for investors.

The record for highest-ever auction price for such a stone is held by the CTF Pink Star, which was sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.

The Williamson Pink Star diamond, which sold for $57.7 million in 2022, also in Hong Kong, holds the record for the highest price per carat, at nearly $5.2 million.

The two-year, multi-term deal is significantly higher than what the government had factored into its 2023 budget and will put efforts to manage runaway public spending at risk, experts warned earlier.

The unions in the public sector represent approximately 1.3 million workers and had been taking part in varying degrees of demonstration since November 2022.

Salary negotiations began in May, with unions initially demanding a 10% increase which the government rejected.

In subsequent negotiating rounds, the unions reduced their demands to an 8% increase and the continuation of a monthly 1,000 rand ($54.71) cash payment.

The final settlement will see the cash gratuity continued for one year, the government said.

The public sector wage bill makes up about a third of total government expenditure. The treasury had factored in an annual increase of 3.3% to 2025/26.

The annual personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) slowed to 5 percent in February from 5.3 percent a month earlier, with increases recorded in the cost of food, energy and goods, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

But core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, only slowed slightly to record an annual increase of 4.6 percent in February, down from 4.7 percent in January.

While the decline in headline inflation is positive news for the Fed, it shows price rises remain elevated and well above the US central bank's long-term target of two percent.

The Fed has hiked interest rates nine times since last March in a bid to bring down rising inflation.

At its recent rate decision, Fed chair Jerome Powell suggested the central bank may only raise rates once more and then bring its current hiking cycle to a halt.

On a month-to-month basis, the PCE price index rose by 0.3 percent from January to February, half the monthly increase recorded a month earlier.

The incident took place on Thursday afternoon when an excavator deployed to clean up waste accidentally hit the pipeline, Transnet said.

"Due to a fire on the adjacent landfill site, the Transnet Pipelines team could not access the pipeline to establish the full extent of the damage and as a safety precaution the pipeline was isolated and gas flow through the pipeline was stopped," the utility said in a statement.

Repairs to the pipeline began on Friday morning after the fire was brought under control on Thursday night, it added.

Transnet did not say when repairs could be completed but said it was working to restore supplies "as soon as possible".

The gas pipeline runs from Secunda in Mpumalanga to the port city of Durban, transporting an average 450 million cubic meters of gas per year.

The rate increase was twice the 25 basis point increase expected by the majority of economists polled by Reuters. I

t triggered a surge in the rand , which extended earlier gains to rise nearly 2% against the dollar.

The South African Reserve Bank had slowed its monetary tightening in January, lifting the rate by 0.25 percentage points.

But inflation accelerated to 7.0 percent in February after slowing in previous months.

Central bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said the rate hike aims to rein in inflation "sustainably over time."

February consumer inflation in South Africa edged up to 7.0% year on year from 6.9% in January, data showed last week, signaling that rolling power cuts nationwide may be stoking price pressures.

The central bank targets inflation between 3% and 6%.

This report was sourced from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.