Daily Report 02 February 2024

SA Company News:

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 0.12% lower at the 74 470 level.

MultiChoice shares gained more than 20% after the company reported that French entertainment company Canal+ has made an offer to buy out Africa’s largest pay TV operator, MultiChoice. Canal+ is considering putting down a cash consideration of R105 per share for the DStv operator, which would represent a premium of 40% to MultiChoice’s closing share price of R75 a share on 31 January 2024.

In a production update from Glencore, the company said that its full-year production fell across most metals and minerals but was in line with its revised guidance, while coal and gold output increased, reaching annual targets after stronger second half volumes. Copper output fell 5% to 1.01 million metric tons in 2023 compared with the prior-year, due to the disposal of a copper mine. Zinc volumes fell 2% to 918,500 tons, reflecting the disposal of various zinc operations in South America, while coal production rose 3% to 113.6 million tons despite various capacity constraints, such as weather, blockades and logistics. For 2024, Glencore expects to produce between 950 000 and 1.01 million tons of copper, between 105 million and 115 million tons of coal and between 900 000 and 950 000 tons of zinc.

In a trading update from Vodacom Group Limited, the company said that group revenue increased by 26.8% to R38.9 billion, positively impacted by the acquisition of Vodafone Egypt. Egypt grew service revenue by 29.1% in local currency, with Egypt financial services customers up 55.5% to 7.5 million. South Africa service revenue grew 1.9%.

 

SA Economy:

The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 43.6 in January 2024, from 50.9 in the previous month. The reading pointed to a renewed contraction in the country’s manufacturing sector to levels rarely seen outside of the global financial crisis in 2008/09 and the pandemic-induced lockdown period of 2020. The NAAMSA reported a sharp decline in the new vehicle sales. The data showed a poor start to the year for the local manufacturing sector. Sales of new cars and commercial vehicles in January totaled 41,646. That was 3.8% fewer than the 43,294 of January 2022 and a sixth successive month that monthly sales have lagged those of a year earlier.

 

Global Economy:

The Bank of England kept the interest rate unchanged at a 16-year high of 5.25%, in line with market expectations. The central bank’s monetary policy committee said that they will need to remain restrictive for sufficiently long to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably in the medium term.

The inflation rate in the Euro Area went down to 2.8% year-on-year in January 2024 from 2.9% in the previous month, in line with market expectations. The core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, eased to 3.3%, but was above analyst’s forecasts of 3.2%

The number of people claiming for unemployment benefits in the US rose for a second consecutive week to 224 000 for the week ended 27^th January, the highest reading since mid-November, compared to an upwardly revised 215 000 in the previous week and forecast of 212 000.

Global Company:

The FTSE 100 closed 0.11% lower at 7 622.

Shell reported a 2023 profit of $28 billion, down 30% from the previous year’s record as oil and gas prices cooled, still allowing the firm to increase its dividend by 4% to $0.344 per share, a 20% increase on an annual basis and announced a $3.5 billion share buyback program.

The Hang Seng Index is trading 0.07% higher at 15 578.

Tencent Holdings is higher by 2.14% after Chinese regulators approved its new video game.

In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.24% to 2 736.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.96% higher to 38 519, while the S&P 500 closed 1.23% higher at 4 906.

Regional U.S. bank stocks remained in the spotlight after New York Community Bancorp cut its dividend and posted a surprise loss, renewing fears over the health of similar lenders.

Apple reported 2% y/y increase in revenue to $119.6 billion amid better-than-expected iPhone sales. The iPhone division brought in $69.7 billion in revenue, surpassing the consensus of $67.6 billion. The gross margin of 45.9% was better than the 45.5% projected by analysts.

Amazon reported Q4 revenue of $170 billion, a 13.9% increase from a year ago and surpassing the consensus forecast of $166.2 billion. Net income grew to $10.6 billion or $1 a share ($17 billion or $1.6 a share on a comparable basis) surpassing estimates of $0.80 (or $1.04 on a comparable basis).

Meta reported a 25% y/y growth in quarterly revenue and a first-ever dividend. The social media company reported revenue of $40.1 billion, surpassing the consensus forecast of $39 billion. Net income came in at $15.8 billion as reported or $14.0 billion on a comparable basis, a 200% growth from a year ago.

Commodities:

Gold is trading higher by 0.49% at $2 055/oz, while Platinum is lower by 0.25% to $918/oz.

Brent crude was 2.15% lower at $79.05 a barrel.

Currencies:

The rand traded at R18.57 against the US Dollar, R23.68 against British Pound and R20.21 against the Euro.

The Euro is slightly firmer against the US Dollar to trade at $1.0880.