Daily Report 25 October 2022

SA Company News:

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 0.9% lower at the 64 976 level, with

Naspers and Prosus shares falling more than 16% due to the political uncertainty in China.

Implats said that they have acquired a further 507 000 RBPlat shares constituting approximately 0.17% of the RBPlat shares in issue. Implats now holds an aggregate of approximately 40.66% of the RBPlat shares.

Gold Fields, which has been gathering support for the acquisition of Canadian rival, Yamana in a massive $6.7bn (R122.7bn) deal, says it is confident that shareholders will back the transaction when they vote on the 22^nd of November. At least 75% of Gold Fields shareholders need to vote in favour of the transaction to complete the takeover.

Gemfields said that they have resumed basic operations at its Montequez ruby mine in Mozambique, having halted operations last week Thursday due to a nearby attack attributed to Islamic insurgents.

 

SA Economy:

The Public Service Association (PSA) served the government with a seven-day notice of intention to strike after the public service wage talks remained deadlocked at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council.

The Transmed Medical Scheme has failed to maintain its solvency ratio at or above 25%, the minimum statutory prescribed level in the Medical Schemes Act. Transmed serves current and retired staff of state-owned enterprises Transnet, South African Airways and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and their subsidiaries, according to its website.

 

​Global Economy:

The UK Manufacturing PMI fell to 45.8 in October 2022 from 48.4 in the previous month, and well below market expectations of 48.

The Baltic Dry index, which measures the cost of shipping goods worldwide, extended losses for the fourth straight session yesterday, falling 1.2% to a three-week low of 1 797 points, amid weaker demand across all its vessel segments.

 

Global Company:

The FTSE 100 closed 0.63% higher at 7 014 as Rishi Sunak looks set to become the next prime minister after other candidates quit the race.

The Hang Seng Index is higher by 0.22% to 15 224. Chinese tech stocks dropped sharply as investors feared that the continuing strict policy of President Xi Jinping could hamper the growth of tech companies.

In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.18% to 2 982.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.34% to 31 499, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.19% to 3 797. U.S listed shares of Chinese companies, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc. led the losses, down 12.5% and 11.7%, respectively.

Focus this week will shift to reports from big tech and growth companies. Google-parent, Alphabet Inc. will report today, followed by Facebook-parent, Meta Platforms Inc. on Wednesday and Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday.

 

Commodities:

Gold is down 0.27% to $1 650/oz, while Platinum is lower by 2.19% to $920/oz.

Brent crude was 1.15% firmer at $91.46 a barrel.

 

Currencies:

The rand traded at R18.45 against the US Dollar, R20.79 against British Pound and R18.20 against the Euro.

The Euro is slightly firmer against the US Dollar to trade at $0.9876.