NEW YORK — Merrill Lynch & Co. is banning all business related to South Africa, including trading or researching South African securities, it was reported today. The move by the

country’s biggest brokerage goes further than similar policies of other securities firms and could encourage others to take a tougher stance to protest South Africa’s practices of racial

separation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Merrill Lynch’s move, announced in an internal memorandum to employees, reflects a growing public outcry that Wall Street firms continue to

maintain ties to South Africa, the newspaper said. But some other financial firms, such as Shearson Lehman Hutton, already have ceased doing business with South Africa, its corporations and