Markets Up, Commodities Down, Euro Declines Against Most Major Currencies

South Africa Market Review

South African markets closed in the green yesterday, after China eased lockdown restrictions in Beijing, thereby boosting investors morale. Diversified miners, Pan African Resources (JO: PANJ ), Anglo American (JO: AMSJ ) and Merafe Resources soared 5.3%, 3.0% and 2.5%, respectively. Retail companies, Foschini Group (JO: TFGJ ) and Massmart Holdings (JO: MSMJ ) added 1.5% and 1.1%, respectively. On the flipside, gold miners, Gold Fields (JO: GFIJ ), Harmony Gold Mining and AngloGold Ashanti (JO: ANGJ ) plunged 5.0%, 3.8% and 1.8%, respectively. Real estate companies, Delta Property Fund (JO: DLTJ ), Emira Property Fund (JO: EMIJ ) and Dipula Income Fund (JO: DIBJ ) shed 4.7%, 3.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Banks, Absa (JO: ABGJ ) Group, FirstRand (JO: FSRJ ) and Nedbank Group (JO: NEDJ ) declined 2.8%, 2.6% and 1.6%, respectively. The JSE All Share index advanced 0.3% to close at 71,120.09.

UK Market Review

The UK market finished firmer yesterday, boosted by broad based gains in aerospace sector stocks. Rolls-Royce (LON: RR ) Holdings and BAE Systems (LON: BAES ) gained 4.7% and 2.1%, respectively. Prudential (LON: PRU ) advanced 4.5%, as Covid restrictions eased in China. Miners, Glencore (LON: GLEN ), Anglo American and Antofagasta (LON: ANTO ) added 3.4%, 3.0% and 2.8%, respectively. Melrose Industries added 3.3%, following the sale of its Ergotron business to funds managed by the Sterling Group for a consideration of $650.00mn. On the contrary, pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca (LON: AZN ) shed 3.5%, even after posting positive results of its breast cancer treatment developed along with Daiichi Sankyo, showing progression-free survival rates of patients compared with chemotherapy. Peers, Dechra Pharmaceuticals and GSK declined 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively. The FTSE 100 index advanced 1.0% to close at 7,608.22.

US Market Review

US markets ended higher yesterday, buoyed by broad based gains in insurance sector stocks as well as surge in 10-year Treasury yield to its highest level in over one month. Travelers (NYSE: TRV ) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) advanced 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively. JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU ) gained 2.1%, after the airlines boosted its offer for Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE ) in the three-way battle for the discount airline. Meanwhile, Spirit has been trying to fight off the company’s bid in order to go ahead with an earlier plan to merge with Frontier Group Holdings (NASDAQ: ULCC ). On the other hand, technology companies, salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) eased 1.1% and 0.5%, respectively. The S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to settle at 4,121.43, while the DJIA index advanced 0.1% to close at 32,915.78. The NASDAQ index climbed 0.4% to end the trading session at 12,061.37.

Asia Market Review

Asian markets are trading mostly higher this morning, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. In Japan, automobile company, Mitsubishi Motors (TYO: 7211 ) Corporation has gained 3.7%. On the flipside, semiconductor and electronics products company Tokyo Electron has declined 1.7%. In Hong Kong, optical products company, Sunny Optical Technology Group (HK: 2382 ) has shed 4.0%. On the contrary, e-commerce company JD.com has advanced 3.9%. In South Korea, electronics companies, LG Electronics (KS: 066570 ) and Samsung Electronics (KS: 005930 ) have declined 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively. The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.6% higher at 28,077.90. The Hang Seng index has added marginally to trade at 21,655.41, while the Kospi index is trading 1.3% lower at 2,636.51.

Commodities

At 06:00 SAST today, Brent spot prices rose 0.3% to trade at $123.90/bl, reversing previous sessions losses.

Yesterday, Brent spot prices fell 0.8% to settle at $123.56/bl, amid doubts that a higher output level for OPEC+ oil producers would ease tight supply.

Yesterday, the Illinois North Central No.2 Yellow corn spot prices rose 2.1% to $7.375/bushel.

At 06:00 SAST today, gold prices marginally declined to trade at $1,841.13/oz. Yesterday, gold declined 0.5% to close at $1,841.43/oz, as stronger greenback and US Treasury yields drag down demand for the safe haven yellow metal.

Yesterday, copper rose 2.6% to close at $9,743.00/mt. Aluminium closed 2.0% higher at $2,751.11/mt.

Currencies

Yesterday, the South African rand strengthened against the US dollar. Meanwhile, investors await the release of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) as well as the US inflation data later this week.

The yield on benchmark government bonds rose yesterday. The yield on 2026 bond rose to 8.30%. Further, the yield on the longer-dated 2030 issue rose to 9.87%.

At 06:00 SAST, the US dollar is trading 0.5% higher against the South African rand at R15.5171, while the euro is trading 0.3% higher at R16.5658. At 06:00 SAST, the British pound has gained 0.3% against the South African rand to trade at R19.3967.

Yesterday, the euro declined against most of the major currencies. In the UK, new car registrations declined in May, due to components shortages that further impacted vehicle availability despite demand.

At 06:00 SAST, the euro slipped 0.2% against the US dollar to trade at $1.0674, while it has marginally gained against the British pound to trade at GBP0.8539.

Economic Updates

New car registrations in the UK registered a drop of 20.60% on an annual basis, in May. In the previous month, new car registrations had dropped 15.80%.

In May, on a YoY basis, retail sales across all sectors slid 1.5% in UK. In the prior month, retail sales across all sectors had recorded a drop of 1.7%.

On a YoY basis, household spending in Japan dropped 1.7% in April, more than market expectations for a fall of 0.8%. Household spending had fallen 2.3% in the previous month.

The Caixin/Markit services PMI index rose to a level of 41.40 in May, in China, compared to a reading of 36.20 in the previous month. Markets were expecting the index to climb to a level of 47.30.

Corporate Updates

South Africa

Fortress REIT Limited: The real estate investment trust company, in its 1H22 operational update, indicated that vacancies in its logistics portfolio decreased to 1.8% as at 31 May 2022 from 2.6% as at 31 December 2021, due to continued demand from tenants for well-located, prime logistics warehouses. Meanwhile, its logistics developments under construction remained unchanged since previously reported and they have agreed terms with two new tenants. Tenant turnover in its retail portfolio grew by 8.4% on a like-for-like basis. Further, the company continues to successfully dispose of non-core properties and its total disposals to date for the financial year ending 30 June 2022 stood at R531.00mn in net proceeds at a combined profit to book value of R25.80mn.

Oil hits $120.00 a barrel after Saudis raise prices: Oil prices hit $120.00 a barrel after Saudi Arabia raised crude prices for July and amid doubts that an increased Opec+ monthly output target will help ease tight supply.