South Africa Market Review
- South African markets closed in the green yesterday, boosted by gains in mining and technology sector stocks.
- Platinum miners, Anglo American Platinum (JO:AMSJ), Northam Platinum (JO:NHMJ) and Impala Platinum (JO:IMPJ) jumped 6.6%, 6.3% and 4.7%, respectively.
- Gold miners, Gold Fields (JO:GFIJ) and AngloGold Ashanti (JO:ANGJ) climbed 4.7% and 3.0%, respectively.
- Technology companies, Naspers (JO:NPNJn) and Prosus N.V. (JO:PRXJn) advanced 3.8% and 3.1%, respectively.
- Lenders, Capitec Bank Holdings (JO:CPIJ), Standard Bank Group (JO:SBKJ) and Nedbank Group (JO:NEDJ) gained 2.6%, 2.0% and 1.7%, respectively.
- Retailers, Shoprite Holdings (JO:SHPJ), SPAR Group (JO:SPPJ) and Clicks Group (JO:CLSJ) rose 2.5%, 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
- Pharmaceutical companies, Life Healthcare Group (JO:LHCJ) and Aspen Pharmacare (JO:APNJ) added 2.1% and 1.4%, respectively.
- The JSE All Share index advanced 2.2% to close at 76,544.79.
UK Market Review
- The UK market finished firmer yesterday, led by gains in mining sector stocks and as cooling US inflation boosted global investor sentiment.
- Miners, Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Glencore (LON:GLEN) (JO:GLNJ), Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) jumped 5.6%, 4.9%, 3.9% and 3.3%, respectively, on higher metal prices.
- Retailers, JD Sports Fashion (LON:JD), Ocado Group (LON:OCDO), Next (LON:NXT) and Burberry Group (LON:BRBY) climbed 3.9%, 3.5%, 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively.
- Real estate companies, Land Securities Group (LON:LAND), Berkeley Group Holdings (LON:BKGH) and Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) advanced 3.8%, 2.9% and 2.1%, respectively.
- Banking firms, NatWest Group (LON:NWG), Barclays (LON:BARC), Standard Chartered Bank (LON:STAN) and Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) gained 3.6%, 3.3%, 2.8% and 2.7%, respectively, after the banks successfully cleared the Bank of England's stress test.
- Water utilities companies, United Utilities Group (LON:UU) and Severn Trent (LON:SVT) rose 1.8% and 1.7%, respectively.
- The FTSE 100 index advanced 1.8% to close at 7,416.11.
US Market Review
- US markets ended higher yesterday, after June inflation data slowed to its lowest level since early 2021.
- Technology company, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) corporation jumped 3.5%, after the company announced that it would invest $50.00mn to speed up training of Recursion's artificial intelligence (AI) models for drug discovery.
- Chipmaker, Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) advanced 0.9%, after the company secured EU antitrust approval for its $61.00bn proposed acquisition of VMware.
- Technology companies, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) advanced 2.8%, 2.0%, 1.4% and 0.9%, respectively.
- The S&P 500 index rose 0.7% to settle at 4,472.16, while the DJIA index advanced 0.3% to close at 34,347.43.
- The NASDAQ index climbed 1.2% to end the trading session at 13,918.96.
Asia Market Review
- Asian markets are trading higher this morning, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.
- In Japan, consumer electronics company, Sony Group (TYO:6758) (NYSE:SONY) has climbed 5.4%.
- On the flipside, automobile company, Mitsubishi Motors (TYO:7211) has declined 1.7%.
- In Hong Kong, healthcare company, JD Health International (HK:6618) has surged 7.7%.
- On the other hand, glass company, Xinyi Glass Holdings (HK:0868) has shed 1.5%.
- In South Korea, pharmaceutical company, II Dong Pharmaceutical (KS:249420) has gained 11.9%.
- On the contrary, security systems company, Hitron Systems (KS:019490) has edged down 9.5%.
- The Nikkei 225 indexis trading 1.3% higher at 32,357.04.
- The Hang Seng index has rose 2.5% to trade at 19,325.44, while the Kospi index is trading 0.9% higher at 2,598.25.
Commodities
- At 05:30 SAST today, Brent prices rose 0.5% to trade at $80.48/bl.
- Yesterday, Brent prices rose 0.9% to settle at $80.11/bl, as slowdown in the US inflation eased fears of US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike. Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the US crude inventories advanced by 5.95mn bls in the week ended 7 July 2023.
- At 05:30 SAST today, gold prices advanced 0.2% to trade at $1,960.63/oz. Yesterday, gold gained 1.3% to close at $1,957.09/oz, as a weaker dollar boosted demand for the safe haven yellow metal.
- Yesterday, copper declined 0.1% to close at $8,365.75/mt. Aluminium closed 2.7% higher at $2,226.62/mt.
Currencies
- Yesterday, the South African rand strengthened against the US dollar. In the US, the consumer price index (CPI) increased less than expected in June.
- The yield on benchmark government bonds fell yesterday. The yield on 2026 bond fell to 9.20%. Further, the yield on the longer-dated 2030 issue fell to 10.46%.
- At 05:30 SAST, the US dollar is trading 0.1% lower against the South African rand at R18.1161, while the euro is trading marginally higher at R20.1939. At 05:30 SAST, the British pound has gained 0.1% against the South African rand to trade at R23.5814.
- Yesterday, the euro mostly advanced against most of the major currencies.
- At 05:30 SAST, the euro advanced 0.2% against the US dollar to trade at $1.1147, while it has weakened 0.1% against the British pound to trade at GBP0.8564.
Economic Updates
- In the UK, the RICS house price balance dropped to a level of -46.00 in June, compared to -30.00 in the previous month.
- In Spain, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6% on a MoM basis in June, in line with market expectations.
- In the US, the MBA mortgage applications rose 0.9% on a weekly basis in the week ended 7 July 2023, compared to a drop of 4.4% recorded in the previous week.
- In the US, the CPI rose 3.0% on a YoY basis in June, less than market expectations and compared to an advance of 4.0% in the prior month.
- In the US, the CPI advanced 0.2% on a MoM basis in June, compared to an advance of 0.1% in the previous month. Market expectations were for the CPI to advance 0.3%.
- The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.0%, in line with market expectations.
- According to Fed’s Beige Book, US economic activity increased slightly since late May.
- In China, trade surplus widened to $70.62bn in June, less than market expectations and compared to a surplus of $65.81bn in the prior month.
Corporate Updates
South Africa
- Accelerate Property Fund Limited (JO:APFJ): The real estate investment trust company, in its trading update for the period ended 31 March 2023, revealed that it expects distribution per share to be 15% lower than the previous year due to the increase in the company’s number of shares in issue by approximately 26.5%.
- Delta Property Fund Limited (JO:DLTJ): The real estate investment trust company announced the appointment of Mr Zwelifikile (Fikile) Mhlontlo as an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer (CEO), with effect from 18 July 2023.
- Oil lifts, boosted by talk of supply cuts: Oil crept higher in a market caught between expectations supply cuts by the world’s biggest fuel exporters will drive prices higher and concerns global economic weakness will sap demand.