SOUTH AFRICA MARKET REVIEW
- South African markets closed in the green on Friday, buoyed by gains in packaging and food companies.
- Paper and packaging companies Mondi (JO:MNPJ) (LON:MNDI) and Sappi (JO:SAPJ) jumped 9.2% and 1.4%, respectively.
- Food companies, Famous Brands (JO:FBRJ), RCL Foods (JO:RCLJ) and Tiger Brands (JO:TBSJ) advanced 2.4%, 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively.
- On the flipside, pharmaceutical companies, Life Healthcare Group (JO:LHCJ) and Aspen Pharmacare (JO:APNJ) dropped 1.8% and 1.0%, respectively.
- Retailers, Foschini Group (JO:TFGJ), Mr Price Group (JO:MRPJ), Shoprite Holdings (JO:SHPJ) and SPAR Group (JO:SPPJ) declined 1.6%, 1.3%, 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.
- Property developers, NEPI Rockcastle NV (JO:NRPJ), Equites Property Fund (JO:EQUJ) and Growthpoint Properties (JO:GRTJ) shed 1.6%, 1.3% and 0.8%, respectively.
- The JSE All Share index advanced 0.1% to close at 73,363.56.
UK MARKET REVIEW
- The UK market finished firmer on Friday, as dovish comments from Bank of England (BoE) Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden raised hopes for rate cuts.
- Water utilities companies, United Utilities Group (LON:UU) and Severn Trent (LON:SVT) both advanced 1.5%, each.
- Tobacco companies, Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) and British American Tobacco (JO:SNHJ) gained 1.5% and 0.7%, respectively.
- Banking firms, Barclays (LON:BARC) and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) added 1.0% and 0.8%, respectively.
- On the other hand, retailers, JD Sports Fashion (LON:JD), B&M European Value Retail SA (LON:BMEB) and Ocado Group (LON:OCDO) dropped 2.8%, 1.9% and 0.8%, respectively.
- Real estate companies, Berkeley Group Holdings (LON:BKGH) and Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) declined 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively.
- The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.2% to close at 7,895.85.
US MARKET REVIEW
- US markets ended mostly lower on Friday, led by losses in technology sector stocks.
- Semiconductor chips companies, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) dropped 10.0%, 5.4% and 4.6%, respectively.
- Technology companies, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 2.4%, 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively.
- On the contrary, financial services companies, American Express (NYSE:AXP), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) advanced 6.2%, 3.5% and 2.5%.
- Energy companies, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) gained 1.5%, 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively.
- The S&P 500 index fell 0.9% to settle at 4,967.23, while the DJIA index climbed 0.6% to end the trading session at 37,986.40.
- The NASDAQ index declined 2.0% to close at 15,282.01.
ASIA MARKET REVIEW
- Asian markets are trading higher this morning.
- In Japan, pharmaceutical company, Sumitomo Pharma (TYO:4506) has advanced 4.6%. On the flipside automobile company, Nissan Motor (TYO:7201) has declined 2.6%.
- In Hong Kong, pharmaceutical company, Sino Biopharmaceutical (HK:1177) has jumped 6.0%.
- On the other hand, automobile company, Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) has shed 4.2%.
- In South Korea, financial services company, KB Financial Group (KS:105560) has surged 8.6%.
- On the contrary, shipping company, Heung-A-Shipping (KS:003280) has plunged 7.1%.
- The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.7% higher at 37,334.97.
- The Hang Seng index has advanced 1.8% to trade at 16,510.22, while the Kospi index is trading 0.8% higher at 2,613.74.
COMMODITIES
- At 05:30 SAST today, Brent prices fell 0.9% to trade at $86.53/bl.
- On Friday, Brent prices rose 0.2% to settle at $87.29/bl, on persistent Middle East tensions. Meanwhile, the Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs count rose by 5 to 511 in the week ended 19 April 2024.
- At 05:30 SAST today, gold prices declined 1.1% to trade at $2,364.88/oz. On Friday, gold gained 0.5% to close at $2,390.45/oz.
- On Friday, copper rose 1.5% to close at $9,797.07/mt. Aluminium closed 1.8% higher at $2,661.09/mt.
CURRENCIES
- On Friday, the South African rand strengthened against the US dollar.
- The yield on benchmark government bonds were mixed on Friday. The yield on the 2030 bond declined to 10.78%, while that for the longer-dated 2040 issue rose to 13.80%.
- At 05:30 SAST, the US dollar is trading 0.2% lower against the South African rand at R19.0862, while the euro is trading 0.1% lower at R20.3514. At 05:30 SAST, the British pound has marginally declined against the South African rand to trade at R23.6298.
- On Friday, the euro mostly advanced against most of the major currencies. In Germany, the producer price index (PPI) declined in March, largely due to weaker energy prices.
- At 05:30 SAST, the euro advanced 0.1% against the US dollar to trade at $1.0664, while it has marginally weakened against the British pound to trade at GBP0.8614.
ECONOMIC UPDATES
- In the UK, retail sales unexpectedly recorded a flat on a MoM basis in March, compared to a revised rise of 0.1% recorded in the previous month.
- In the UK, the Rightmove house price index climbed 1.1% on a MoM basis in April, compared to a rise of 1.5% recorded in the prior month.
- In Germany, the producer price index (PPI) unexpectedly advanced 0.2% on a MoM basis in March, compared to a drop of 0.4% recorded in the prior month.
- The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) kept its key interest rate unchanged at 3.45%, in line with market expectations.
CORPORATE UPDATES
SOUTH AFRICA
- CareerBox takes BPO to the next level: The recruitment and training company screens and processes up to 200 applications for call centre jobs. Some of those are from graduates — not surprising when you consider that the official national unemployment rate stood at 32.1% in the fourth quarter last year, up from 31.9% in the previous three month-period.