Market Review, Corporate Updates, Commodities & Currencies - 14.09.21

SOUTH AFRICA MARKET REVIEW

• South African markets closed in the green yesterday, buoyed by broad-based gains in mining sector stocks.
• Platinum mining stocks, Anglo American Platinum (JO: AMSJ ), Impala Platinum Holdings (JO: IMPJ ) and Royal Bafokeng Platinum (JO: RBPCBe ) rose 5.1%, 3.3% and 2.7%, respectively.
• Gold mining stocks, Harmony Gold Mining, AngloGold Ashanti (JO: ANGJ ) and Gold Fields (JO: GFIJ ) advanced 4.7%, 2.3% and 1.9%, respectively.
• Banking firms, FirstRand (JO: FSRJ ), Capitec Bank (JO: CPIJ ) Holdings and Nedbank Group (JO: NEDJ ) added 1.1%, 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.
• On the flipside, real estate sector stocks, Delta Property Fund, Fortress REIT and Attacq shed 4.6%, 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively.
• Retail sector companies, Cashbuild (JO: CSBJ ) and Cie Financiere Richemont SA (JO: CFRJ ) declined 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively.
• The JSE All Share index advanced 0.6% to close at 64,652.32.

UK MARKET REVIEW

• The UK market finished firmer yesterday, buoyed by gains in banking and oil sector stocks.
• Banking companies, Lloyds Banking Group (LON: LLOY ), Standard Chartered (LON: STAN ) and Barclays (LON: BARC ) rose 2.8%, 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively.
• Oil and energy companies, Royal Dutch Shell (LON: RDSa ) and BP (LON: BP ) advanced 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
• Royal Mail (LON: RMG ) gained 3.0%, following reports that the Post Office will begin handling packages for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ).
• Rolls-Royce (LON: RR ) Holdings advanced 2.5%, after the aerospace company, along with Babcock, agreed to sell its stake in AirTanker Holdings Limited to Equitix Investment Management.
• On the flipside, Associated British Foods (LON: ABF ) shed 2.4%, after the company reported a fall in its 4Q21 sales at its Primark fashion business.
• The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.6% to close at 7,068.43.

US MARKET REVIEW

• US markets ended mostly higher yesterday, buoyed by broad based gains in insurance and banking sector stocks.
• Insurance companies, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ), American Express (NYSE: AXP ) and Travelers (NYSE: TRV ) advanced 2.6%, 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively.
• Banking firms, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) and Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS ) advanced 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively.
• Technology sector stocks, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) added 2.1% and 0.4%, respectively.
• On the flipside, retail sector companies, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST ) and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT ) shed 1.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
• However, peer, GameStop (NYSE: GME ) Corporation surged 6.8%.
• The S&P 500 index rose 0.2% to settle at 4,468.73, while the DJIA index advanced 0.8% to close at 34,869.63.
• The NASDAQ index eased 0.1% to end the trading session at 15,105.58.

ASIA MARKET REVIEW

• Asian markets are trading mostly higher this morning, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.
• In Japan, chemical company, Showa Denko K. K has surged 6.4%.
• On the contrary, market heavyweight, SoftBank Corp (T: 9434 ) has dropped 1.6%.
• In Hong Kong, China Evergrande Group has plummeted 6.8%, after the company indicated towards a continuing decline in its contract sales in September, which dampened confidence.
• On the flipside, WuXi Biologics (HK: 2269 ) has added 1.7%.
• In South Korea, technology company, Samsung Electronics (KS: 005930 ) has added 1.6%.
• On the flipside, plastic company, Kolon Plastics (KS: 138490 ) has plunged 8.9%.
• The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.7% higher at 30,651.45.
• The Hang Seng index has weakened 0.1% to trade at 25,786.81, while the Kospi index is trading 0.9% higher at 3,156.65.

COMMODITIES

• At 06:00 SAST today, Brent spot prices rose 0.3% to trade at $73.68/bl, on signs that another tropical storm, Nicholas could affect output in Texas this week, after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.
• Yesterday, Brent spot prices rose 0.9% to settle at $73.48/bl, as the US output remains slow to return after Hurricane Ida. Meanwhile, OPEC+ cut its oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021, following concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19, further adding that recovery would be delayed until next year when the consumption exceeds the pre-pandemic rates.
• Yesterday, the Illinois North Central No.2 Yellow corn spot prices fell 0.9% to $5.07/bushel.
• At 06:00 SAST today, gold prices declined 0.1% to trade at $1,791.16/oz. Yesterday, gold gained 0.3% to close at $1,793.75/oz, as weakness in the greenback boosted the demand for the safe haven yellow metal.
• Yesterday, copper declined 1.4% to close at $9,550.50/mt. Aluminium closed 1.1% lower at $2,883.50/mt.

CURRENCIES

• Yesterday, the South African rand strengthened against the US dollar. Meanwhile, South Africa passed another grim Covid-19 milestone, with the country now having recorded more than 85,000 fatalities linked to the coronavirus pandemic. On the other hand, President, Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa was moving to Adjusted Alert Level 2 of lockdown regulations, allowing for a number of restrictions on movement, gathering and alcohol sales to be lifted.
• The yield on benchmark government bonds rose yesterday. The yield on 2026 bond rose to 7.41%. Further, the yield on 2023 bond advanced to 4.93%, while that for the longer-dated 2030 issue rose to 8.89%.
• At 06:00 SAST, the US dollar is trading 0.1% higher against the South African rand at R14.1514, while the euro is trading 0.1% higher at R16.7183. At 06:00 SAST, the British pound has gained 0.1% against the South African rand to trade at R19.5875.
• Yesterday, the euro declined against most of the major currencies. In Germany, wholesale prices increased in the month of August.
• At 06:00 SAST, the euro marginally advanced against the US dollar to trade at $1.1814, while it has marginally weakened against the British pound to trade at GBP0.8533.

ECONOMIC UPDATES

• In Germany, the wholesale price index climbed 0.5% in August on a monthly basis. The wholesale price index had advanced 1.1% in the prior month.
• On a quarterly basis, the house price index in Australia rose 6.7% in 2Q21, higher than market expectations of an advance of 6.1%. The house price index had recorded a rise of 5.4% in the prior quarter.
• The business conditions index rose to a level of 14.00 in August, in Australia. The business conditions index had recorded a revised reading of 10.00 in the previous month.
• The business confidence index in Australia rose to a level of -5.00 in August, compared to a revised reading of -7.00 in the previous month.
• REINZ house sales in New Zealand eased 26.5% on a YoY basis, in August. REINZ house sales had dropped 11.7% in the prior month.

CORPORATE UPDATES

SOUTH AFRICA

• Sanlam (JO: SLMJ ) Limited: The insurance company announced the conclusion of agreements between its wholly owned subsidiary, Sanlam UK Limited and Chesnara Plc, for the disposal of its 100.0% shareholding in Sanlam Life & Pensions UK Limited, for a consideration of GBP39.00mn.
• Remgro (JO: REMJ ) Limited: The investment holding company, in its FY21 trading statement, indicated that it expects its HEPS to be between 494.20c and 524.90c, compared with 560.60c, recorded in the previous year (an expected decrease of between 6.0% and 12.0%).
• AngloGold Ashanti Limited (JO: ANGJ ): The gold mining company announced that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement pursuant to which it has agreed to acquire the remaining 80.5% of common shares of Corvus at a price of $4.10 per common share in cash. The total transaction cost is estimated to be approximately $370.00mn.
• Raubex Group (JO: RBXJ ) Limited: The infrastructure development and construction materials supply company, in its 1H21 trading statement, reported that it expects its EPS to be at least 123.00c, compared with a loss per share of 25.20c in the corresponding previous period. It expects its HEPS to be at least 117.00c, compared with a headline loss per share of 26.60c in the corresponding previous year.
• Attacq Limited (JO: ATTJ ): The real estate investment trust company, in its FY21 trading statement, announced that distributable income per share (DIPS) is expected to decline by 35.9%, as compared with that in the previous year at 46.80c.
• Oil rises as concerns linger over Ida’s impact on US output: Oil rose, supported by concerns over shuttered output in the US, the world's biggest producer, following damage from Hurricane Ida, while analysts expected a stable market in coming months.