5 things you need to know before trading opens today
·2 Feb 2016
Here is what’s happening in the markets:
- The rand has lost gains made following a rate hike by the SARB. While the currency opened the week below R16.00 to the dollar, on Monday it broke through that level once again, before settling on the cusp of this psychologically important mark. On Tuesday, the rand is trading at R15.99 to the dollar, R23.01 to the pound and R17.45 to the Euro.
- While much of the South African economy was buoyed by the Reserve Bank’s 50 basis point rate hike, ratings firm Moody’s says the move was “credit negative” for banks. The agency said the rate hike would make it tougher for borrowers to repay their debt, which in turn would affect the asset quality of banks, which are likely to deteriorate. SA’s “big four” banks have R1.2 trillion in loans out.
- South Africa can’t seem to shake the shroud of recession, with more indices pointing to further economic contraction in the country. The Barclay’s purchasing manager’s index (PMI) for January signalled a bad time for SA’s manufacturing industry, and an increased chance of recession. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan recently met with business leaders to find away to avoid this eventuality.
- In global markets: South African stocks are down, taking their cue from the global markets which are worried about the health of the global market. Asian shares were down once again due to sliding oil prices and poor manufacturing data. US markets were flat, with gains from major tech companies balancing out losses in major indices.
- Black businesses want to be a bigger player in the South African nuclear energy programme, which is estimated to cost over R1 trillion to build. The Black Business Council and the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) have created a ‘business nuclear energy desk’ which will provide a platform for black business to interact with Necsa and other relevant entities.
In other news: Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has waded into the Eskom-Gupta saga, saying that the group isn’t interested in who owns the mines it sources coal from, it’s just trying to get the right price because it cannot afford to pay “exorbitant” amounts for the resource.
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