SA Company News:
Friday saw the JSE retreat after two days of decent gains.MTN rose 1.3% before MTN Nigeria’s results showed the loss of 7.6m subscribers, though EBITDA rose 28% and the dividend increased 30%.Tencent, which influences the JSE via the Naspers stable, gave back 2.38%.
SA Economy:
There is little on the local corporate calendar on Monday, while in economic news the Absa purchasing managers’ index for July, a gauge of the health of the manufacturing sector, is expected to show a drop from 57.4 points in June.The fall is expected to reflect ongoing Covid-19 restrictions that have hit SA’s leisure and hospitality sectors, while the month also saw the outbreak of violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Global Economy:
European stock futures pointed to a positive start on the first trading day of August, following gains in Asia-Pacific as some of the concerns over China’s regulatory crackdown eased and progress on a US infrastructure bill continued.The dollar edged lower Monday, just above a one-month low, in tight trading ranges ahead of the release of key U.S. employment data later in the week which could influence Federal Reserve policy.
Commodities:
Brent crude futures were down 1% to below $75 a barrel on Monday, after surging almost 2% in the previous week, as investors digest fresh manufacturing PMI data which pointed to a general slowdown in factory activity, with growth in China falling to a 15-month low.Gold was slightly lower to start August, trading below the $1810 an ounce level and moving further away from a two-week high of $1,832 touched in the previous session as the dollar remained strong.
Currencies:
This morning, the ZAR is steady at 14.61.The dollar index was trading at 92.09 on Monday, staying near its lowest in a month and after falling by 0.9% last week which was its worst performance since early May.
Bitcoin trading at $39 859.
| Market Indicators | ||||||||
| Commodities $ | Cross Currencies ($) | Major Indices | ||||||
| Gold | 1812,75 | (-0.82) | USD/ZAR | 14,61 | Top40 | 62852,28 | (-0.86) | |
| Platinum | 1051,05 | (-0.09) | GBP/ZAR | 20,34 | Dow 30 | 34935,47 | (-0.43) | |
| Brent | 74,55 | (+0.07) | EUR/ZAR | 17,36 | S&P 500 | 4395,26 | (-0.54) | |
| Copper | 4,50 | (+0.44) | EUR/USD | 1,1874 | FTSE | 7032,80 | (-0.65) | |
| Palladium | 2674,50 | (+0.75) | USD/JPY | 109,37 | DAX | 15544,39 | (-0.62) | |
| Iron Ore | 191,00 | (-3.14) | BITCOIN | 39696,00 | Shanghai | 3462,38 | (+1.92) | |
| Source: Investing.com | ||||||||