In Thursday’s trading session in the local markets, the Top 40 closed the day down by 0.13%, the Resources 10 sector went down by 0.59%, the Financial 15 went down by 0.03%, and the Industrial 25 went up by 0.11%. The rand traded at R17.08 against the dollar, R20.92 against the pound, and R18.64 against the euro. Yesterday, the oil price fell for a second week in a row as the boost to commodities from China's reopening began to wane and the timing and extent of the nation's economic recovery remained highly uncertain.
In company-specific news, Gold Fields (JO:GFIJ) received a bill for back taxes on their three mining operations in Ghana. The miner stated that the amount is "nowhere close" to the one given to MTN (JO:MTNJ) last month and that they will work with the authorities to dispute it. The amount has not been disclosed. Anglo American Platinum (JO:AMSJ), Kumba Iron Ore (JO:KIOJ), and Anglo American PLC (JO:AGLJ) released production updates for the fourth quarter, which ended on December 31, 2022 yesterday.
Impala Platinum (JO:IMPJ) released an update on their half-year production for December 31, 2022, Hudaco (JO:HDCJ) Industries released an update on their annual results for November 30, 2022, and DRDGold Limited released a voluntary trading update for the half-year that ended on December 31, 2022.
In the US, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Inc. had a very strong trading session yesterday and the share price ended the day up 23.28%.
Figure 1: Meta Platforms Inc. - historical chart
The most important economic data event to watch for is the print for Non-Farm Payrolls at 15:30 local time.
