Daily Report 07 December 2022

SA Company News:

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 0.2% lower at the 74 557 level, as investors continued to monitor political developments around the Phala Phala farmgate scandal involving President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Bank shares gained 1.08%, financials added 0.96% and precious metals was up 0.24%.

Sanlam and Business Day have come together to launch the Sanlam Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) barometer, a project that aims to offer a key measure of SA companies’ ability to improve ESG outcomes through their activities.

 

SA Economy:

South Africa’s economy rebounded in the third quarter, averting a technical recession. GDP rose by 1.6% in the three months to end September 2022, well above market forecasts of a 0.6% rise, following a 0.7% contraction in the previous quarter.

The price of both 93 and 95 unleaded petrol will rise by 59c a litre, while diesel will fall by R1.52 and R1.57 a litre. The price of diesel that reached a record high of R25.49 in October, will fall to R23.92 a litre. A year ago, Gauteng’s diesel price stood at around R17.93 per litre.

The Reserve Bank said that South Africa’s net reserves rose to $53.391 billion in November from $52.193 billion in October.

 

​Global Economy:

Factory orders in Germany increased by 0.8% month-over-month in October 2022 and exceeding market forecasts of a 0.1% rise.

The S&P Global/CIPS Construction PMI for the UK fell to 50.4 in November 2022 from 53.2 in October, signalling a slowdown in construction activity.

Imports to the United States increased by $2.2 billion, or 0.6%, to $334.8 billion in October 2022, suggesting that domestic demand in the world’s largest economy remains strong.

The Reserve Bank of India’s increased interest rates by 35 basis points (bps) to 6.25% and the central bank said that that there will be no letup in the flight to tame inflation.

Imports to China declined by 10.6% year-on-year to $226.2 billion in November 2022, while exports from China fell 8.7% year-on-year to $296.1 billion.

 

Global Company:

The FTSE 100 closed 0.61% lower at 7 521. Energy shares declined 0.8%, with oil companies, BP and Shell down 1% each.

The Hang Seng Index is trading flat at 19 448.

In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.4% to 3 199.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.04% to 33 596, while the S&P 500 was lower by 0.96% to 3 941.

Interest rate sensitive companies such as Tesla, Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon, were down between 1% and 3%.

 

Commodities:

Gold is up 0.11% to $1 769/oz, while Platinum is lower by 1.2% to $1008/oz.

Brent crude was 3.97% lower at $79.35 a barrel.

 

Currencies:

The rand traded at R17.34 against the US Dollar, R21.04 against British Pound and R18.16 against the Euro.

The Euro is slightly firmer against the US Dollar to trade at $1.0452.