SA Company News:
The JSE All Share Index edged higher to 66 514 on Tuesday, mainly lifted by technology shares including Naspers and Prosus. Northam Platinum – additional share buyback and an overall 26.1% reduction in the Northam shares in issue. MTN announced it is in talks with international buyers for its wireless business in Afghanistan. Telkom and MTN Group will benefit from the decision by ICASA (Communications regulator) to halt the spectrum licensing auction.
SA Economy:
The South African GDP grew 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2021, following a 1% expansion in the previous period and compared with market expectations of a 0.7 percent growth. SA recorded economic growth higher than economists predicted in the second quarter, prompting Old Mutual to revise its already bullish forecast to 5.5% for 2021. Mercedes-Benz Cars announced in June that it had invested a further R3 billion in South Africa to boost its investment in the country to R13 billion for the manufacturing of the new generation C-Class at its East London plant.
Global Economy:
The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Euro Area retreated by 11.6 points to 31.1 in September of 2021. It was the lowest reading since April of 2020, amid concerns over global material shortages and other supply chain issues, coupled with fears of slowing recovery. Property loans in China has increased at the slowest pace in eight years in the first seven months of 2021, while home price growth has decreased to a six-month low.
Global Companies:
China Evergrande Group shares fell 2.8% after a second credit-rating downgrade boosted concern the developer will default on its debt. Match Group (which owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and most other dating apps in the U.S) listed on the NASDAQ was up 13% in Tuesday’s premarket trading after its inclusion in the S&P 500 Index.
Commodities:
Prices for iron ore fell below $140 a ton, the lowest since early December amid improving supply and curbs on steel production in China. Oil holds steady on slow return of U.S. supplies after Hurricane Ida. Brent crude was 0.11% higher at $71.65 a barrel. Gold was down 1.26% to $1,797.48/oz while platinum also fell 1.2% to $1,000.35.
Cryptocurrencies.
The price of cryptocurrencies plunged, and crypto trading was delayed due to trading platform outages on Tuesday, a day in which El Salvador ran into snags as the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Bitcoin the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency fell more than 17% to $43,000 before paring some losses to trade down 9.20% at $47,140.27. Earlier on Tuesday Bitcoin had hit a session high of $52,948.00.
Currencies:
The SA currency had touched R15.40/$ as recently as August 20, its weakest level in five months, before staging a comeback to trade at R14.22/$. The dollar rose to a one-week peak against major peers on Wednesday, buoyed by higher Treasury yields and a weaker euro ahead of a European Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday.
Brent Oil Futures Gold Futures Top 40 Futures
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Market Indicators |
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| Commodities $ | Cross Currencies ($) | Major Indices | |||||
| Gold | 1798.70 | (-1.26) | USD/ZAR | 14.33 | Top40 | 60340.77 | (+0.10) |
| Platinum | 1000.35 | (-1.27) | GBP/ZAR | 19.72 | Dow 30 | 35100.00 | (-0.77) |
| Brent | 72.09 | (-0.35) | EUR/ZAR | 16.95 | S&P 500 | 4520.03 | (-0.34) |
| Copper | 4.28 | (+0.47) | EUR/USD | 1.1832 | FTSE | 7149.37 | (-0.30) |
| Palladium | 2364.00 | (-1.31) | USD/JPY | 110.42 | DAX | 15843.09 | (-0.42) |
| Iron Ore | 136.50 | (+0.73) | BITCOIN | 45943.00 | Shanghai | 3679.21 | (+0.07) |
| Source: Investing.com | |||||||