Market Review, Corporate Updates, Commodities & Currencies - 08.02.23

South Africa Market Review

South African markets closed in the red yesterday, led by losses in banking and real estate sector stocks.
Lenders, Capitec Bank Holdings (JO: CPIJ ) and Nedbank Group (JO: NEDJ ) dropped 2.2% and 0.8%, respectively.
Real estate companies, Capital & Counties Properties (JO: CCOJ ), Redefine Properties (JO: RDFJ ) and Growthpoint Properties (JO: GRTJ ) declined 2.0%, 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.
Retailers, Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (JO: SNHJ ), Mr Price Group (JO: MRPJ ) and Lewis Group (JO: LEWJ ) shed 2.0%, 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively.
On the flipside, platinum miners, Northam Platinum (JO: NHMJ ) and Anglo American Platinum (JO: AMSJ ) advanced 3.7% and 2.6%, respectively.
Diversified miners, Kumba Iron Ore (JO: KIOJ ), Exxaro Resources (JO: EXXJ ) and Anglo Anglo American (JO: AMSJ ) gained 3.7%, 2.1% and 1.3%, respectively.
The JSE All Share index declined 0.1% to close at 79,534.22.

The UK market finished firmer yesterday, boosted by gains in energy sector stocks.
Energy company, BP (LON: BP ) climbed 8.0%, after the company reported record profits of $28.00bn in 2022 amid surging gas prices.
Peer, Shell (LON: RDSa ) advanced 2.4%. Banking firms, Standard Chartered (LON: STAN ), HSBC Holdings (LON: HSBA ), NatWest Group (LON: NWG ) and Barclays (LON: BARC ) gained 1.7%, 1.5%, 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively.
On the other hand, paper and packaging companies, Smurfit Kappa Group (LON: SKG ) and Mondi (LON: MNDI ) dropped 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively.
Real estate companies, Barratt Developments (LON: BDEV ), Land Securities Group (LON: LAND ) and British Land Company (LON: BLND ) declined 1.3%, 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively.
The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.4% to close at 7,864.71.

US markets ended higher yesterday, after US Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell stated that inflation will drop in 2023.
Industrial materials company, DuPont (NYSE: DD ) de Nemours gained 7.5%, after the company reported higher profits in 4Q22.
Technology company, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) advanced 4.2%, after the company announced an integration of ChatGPT, a chatbot from OpenAI, into its products.
Peers, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM ) added 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Airplane company, Boeing (NYSE: BA ) gained 3.8%.
The S&P 500 index rose 1.3% to settle at 4,164.00, while the DJIA index advanced 0.8% to close at 34,156.69.
The NASDAQ index climbed 1.9% to end the trading session at 12,113.79.

Asian markets are trading mostly higher this morning.
In Japan, banking company, Softbank Group (TYO: 9984 ) has dropped 6.2%, after the company reported net loss in 4Q22.
On the flipside, chemical company, Mitsubishi Chemical Group (TYO: 4188 ) has advanced 5.6%.
In Hong Kong, consumer electronics company, Xiaomi Corporation (HK: 1810 ) has declined 1.1%.
On the other hand, real estate company, Longfor Group Holdings (HK: 0960 ) has gained 3.9%.
In South Korea, financial services company, JB Financial Group (KS: 175330 ) has advanced 6.9%.
On the contrary, airlines company, T’way Air (KS: 004870 ) has shed 3.6%.
The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.4% lower at 27,565.54.
The Hang Seng index has gained 0.4% to trade at 21,378.25, while the Kospi index is trading 1.4% higher at 2,484.99.

At 06:00 SAST today, Brent spot prices fell 0.5% to trade at $83.03/bl.
Yesterday, Brent spot prices rose 3.0% to settle at $83.45/bl, amid rebound in Chinese crude oil demand and following positive remarks from US Fed. Additionally, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that the crude oil inventories declined by 2.18mn bls in the week ended 3 February 2023.
Yesterday, the Illinois North Central No.2 Yellow corn spot prices fell 0.7% to $7.05/bushel.
At 06:00 SAST today, gold prices advanced 0.2% to trade at $1,876.61/oz. Yesterday, gold gained 0.3% to close at $1,873.10/oz, as a weaker greenback boosted demand for the safe haven yellow metal.
Yesterday, copper rose 0.6% to close at $8,893.00/mt. Aluminium closed 0.5% lower at $2,486.00/mt.

Yesterday, the South African rand strengthened against the US dollar. In the US, trade deficit widened in December.
The yield on benchmark government bonds rose yesterday. The yield on 2026 bond rose to 8.29%. Further, the yield on the longer-dated 2030 issue rose to 9.75%.
At 06:00 SAST, the US dollar is trading 0.2% lower against the South African rand at R17.536, while the euro is trading 0.2% lower at R18.8223. At 06:00 SAST, the British pound has marginally declined against the South African rand to trade at R21.1408.
Yesterday, the euro mostly declined against most of the major currencies. In Germany, industrial production declined to its lowest level in nine months in December, amid drop in intermediate goods output.
At 06:00 SAST, the euro advanced 0.1% against the US dollar to trade at $1.0733, while it has marginally weakened against the British pound to trade at GBP0.8903.

In the UK, the Halifax house price index remained registered a flat reading on a MoM basis in January, compared to a revised drop of 1.3% recorded in the prior month.
In Switzerland, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.9% in January. Market expectations were for the unemployment rate to drop to 1.8%.
In France, trade deficit widened to EUR14.93bn in December, compared to a revised deficit of EUR13.57bn recorded in the prior month.
In France, current account deficit widened to EUR8.50bn in December, compared to a deficit of EUR6.80bn recorded in the previous month.
In Germany, seasonally adjusted industrial production dropped 3.1% on a MoM basis in December, more than market expectations for a drop of 0.6%. Industrial production had registered a revised rise of 0.4% in the previous month.
In the US, goods trade deficit widened to $90.60bn in December, compared to a deficit of $84.10bn recorded in the previous month.
In Canada, international merchandise trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed to C$0.16bn in December. International merchandise trade had recorded a revised deficit of C$0.22bn.
In Japan, the preliminary leading economic index recorded a drop to a level of 97.20 in December, in line with market expectations. The leading economic index had recorded a level of 97.40 in the previous month,
In Japan, trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed to JPY1,225.60bn in December, compared to a deficit of JPY1,537.80bn recorded in the previous month.

South Africa

Sasol Limited (JO: SOLJ ): The energy company, in its trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2022, revealed that it expects its EPS to be between R21.55 and R23.98, compared with R23.98 recorded in the corresponding previous year. Moreover, it expects its HEPS to be between R29.84 and R31.36, higher compared with R15.21 recorded in the previous year.
Tongaat Hulett Limited (JO: TONJ ): The agriculture and agri-processing company, announced the appointment of Mr Dan Marokane, as acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1 March 2023.
Oil rises on optimism over China outlook: il prices rose for a second straight session, driven by optimism about recovering demand in China and concerns over supply shortages after the shutdown of an export terminal after an earthquake in Turkey.