SA Company News:
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 0.7% lower at 70 967. In a trading update from Sibanye-Stillwater, the company said that it expects earnings per share and headline earnings per share to halve to between 402c and 447c for the six months ended June 2022, compared with 843c in the first half of 2021, representing a decline of 47% to 52%. The decrease is owed to several production problems as well as production from U.S. platinum group metals operations that were significantly affected by severe regional flooding in Montana in the second quarter, with operations being suspended for a seven-week period. Naspers said in a market update that they want to start selling its shares in Prosus and that they will use the proceeds to buy back its own shares. Naspers and Prosus operated under a cross-holding agreement, which came into effect after a share swap in 2021. Under this, Prosus holds 49% of Naspers ordinary shares, and Naspers owns nearly 57% of Prosus ordinary shares. DRDGold said in a trading update to shareholders that the group’s headline earnings per share will decrease by between 13% and 33% to between 113 cents and 147 cents from R1.684 in the previous year to between R1.136 and R1.472. DRD’s results for the year ended 30 June 2022 are expected to be published on the 24th of August. Exxaro Resources reported a 26% increase in half-year profit, driven mainly by higher coal prices. The company said its headline earnings per share was R34.26 for the six months ended 30 June, compared with the R27.22 recorded during the same period last year. Exxaro declared an interim dividend of R15.93, much lower than the R20.77 for the first half of 2021.
SA Economy:
Data from the Central Energy Fund indicated that motorists could be in for a big fuel price cut in September as the global price of brent crude oil has now fallen below $95 per barrel. The Automobile Association (AA) said that the price of 95 unleaded petrol is expected to drop by around R2.60 per litre, while 93 unleaded might decrease by R2.45 per litre. The wholesale price of diesel is expected to fall by around R2.30 a litre. South Africa’s retail sales dropped by 2.5% from a year earlier in June 2022, after a 0.1% uptick in the previous month and worse than market forecasts of a 0.4% rise, reflecting the impact of higher inflation and interest rates on consumption. The Bureau for Food and Agriculture Policy (BFAP) said that food price inflation, which hit new highs in 2022, is likely to ease over the next 18 months thereby providing some relief to consumers. Global Economy: Hong Kong’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.3% in the three months ending July 2022, from 4.7% in the previous three-month period as domestic economic activities continued to recover. The annual inflation rate in Croatia reached a record high of 12.3% in July 2022, up from 12.1 percent in the previous month. The main upward pressure came from prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages and transport. European natural gas prices hit a new five-month high, as the lack of alternative energy sources in the near term kept a squeeze on a market that is already stretched tight by the absence of Russian supplies. U.S. retail sales were flat in July, which was below the 0.1% increase that was expected. The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July monetary policy meeting stated that the committee would keep increasing its benchmark lending rates until inflation came down substantially and use incoming macro-economic data to decide the extent of the rate hikes.
Global Company:
The FTSE 100 closed 0.2% lower at 7 515, as inflation in the UK reached 10%. The Hang Seng Index fell 1.02% to 19 720. Tencent posted revenue of 134.03 billion Chinese yuan ($19.78 billion) in the second quarter vs. 134.60 billion yuan, a decline of 3% year-on-year. Tencent missed both revenue and profit forecasts. Tencent also said that the uptick of Covid in China, lockdowns and subsequent economic slowdown has filtered through to major areas of Tencent’s business. Tencent shares was up 3.5% this morning. In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.48% to 3 276, tracking their global peers lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.5% to 33 980, while the S&P 500 was down 0.72% to 4 274. Target shares dropped 2% after reporting a 90% fall in quarterly earnings. Krispy Kreme shares fell 12% to $12.76 after the company reported lower-than-expected second-quarter profit and revenue. Apple Inc. said that they are aiming to unveil the iPhone 14 line on the 7th of September. The launch will also include new Macs low-end and high-end iPads and three Apple Watch models.
Commodities:
Gold is down 0.88% to $1 762/oz, while Platinum is lower by 2.04% to $917/oz. Brent crude was 0.6% firmer at $93.76 a barrel.
Currencies:
The rand traded at R16.71 against the US Dollar, R20.10 against British Pound and R16.98 against the Euro. The Euro is slightly firmer against the US Dollar to trade at $1.0164.
.
Market Indicators |
|||||||
| Commodities $ | Cross Currencies ($) | Major Indices | |||||
| Gold | 1762.83 | -0.88% | USD/ZAR | 16.71 | Top40 | 64167.00 | -0.87% |
| Platinum | 917.90 | -2.04% | GBP/ZAR | 20.10 | Dow 30 | 33980.32 | -0.51% |
| Brent | 93.76 | 0.60% | EUR/ZAR | 16.98 | S&P 500 | 4274.04 | -0.73% |
| Copper | 3.57 | -1.56% | EUR/USD | 1.0164 | FTSE | 7515.75 | -0.27% |
| Palladium | 2135.50 | -1.00% | USD/JPY | 135.30 | DAX | 13626.71 | -2.08% |
| Iron Ore | 105.50 | -2.84% | BITCOIN | 23367.90 | Shanghai | 3276.25 | -0.45% |
| Source: Moneyweb & Investing.com | |||||||