5 things you need to know before trading opens today
·22 Mar 2016
Here’s what is happening in the markets:
- President Jacob Zuma emerged ‘victorious’ from the ANC’s National Executive Committee meeting this past long weekend, with officials expressing “full confidence” in the president. The office of the secretary general will investigate the startling claims made last week about alleged state capture by the Gupta family, and the ANC top six – led by Zuma – will meet with the family to confront the allegations.
- South African private healthcare is in the hot seat as, a month into an inquiry, the Competition Commission is finding gaping holes in the industry’s regulations. The inquiry was set up to investigate high prices in private health care, among other things – and is finding inefficiencies on the side of both policy and government, which is enabling an unregulated environment. The public hearings continue.
- The South African rand will be starting this short week in a relatively stronger position, regaining the losses made last week amid political uncertainty. After breaching R16.00 due to revelations about state capture, the currency pulled back and closed the week at R15.24 for the long weekend. On Tuesday morning the rand was trading at R15.22 to the dollar, R21.89 to the pound and R17.12 to the euro.
- In global news, Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday as hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials clouded the monetary policy outlook less than a week after Fed Chair Janet Yellen had set out a more cautious path to interest rate increases this year.Wall Street closed little changed on Monday as investors searched for fresh catalysts and showed concerns about fully-extended share prices after a five-week rally.
- Crude oil prices continue to slide on concerns over a supply glut after the U.S rig count rose for the first time since December. U.S. energy firms last week added one oil rig after 12 weeks of cuts, according to data by industry firm Baker Hughes. U.S. crude fell 40 cents to $39.04 a barrel, whil Brent crude was down 12 cents at $41.08.
In other news: iPhone maker Apple has unveiled a new 4-inch model of its popular smart device, dubbed the iPhone SE. The phone is smaller than the current generation of devices – holding the power of the iPhone 6s, but in the body of the iPhone 5s.
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