5 things you need to know before trading opens today
·11 Apr 2016
Here is what’s happening in the markets today:
- The Gupta family – which as strong ties to president Jacob Zuma – have fled the country, according to weekend reports. The family reportedly left for Dubai on Thursday last week, after resigning from their positions in SA businesses. However, the family is not gone for good, retaining an 80% stake in its business interests – meaning they could still control things from outside the country.
- The tide is turning against president Jacob Zuma, with forces within the ANC as well outside of the party joining the call for the president to get the boot. Civil groups, business leaders, former political leaders, ANC decedents, and prominent figures have all stated their view on Zuma – and they agree he must go. Sources in the ANC itself have admitted that the perceptions around the president are hurting the party at large, having lost supporters ahead of the 2016 Municipal Elections.
- South Africa’s rand, stocks and bonds all rallied on Friday, with investor confidence lifted by Pretoria’s successful issuing of a foreign dollar bond in the face of political upheaval and the prospects of looming ratings downgrades. The rand strengthened to below the psychologically important level of R15.00 to the dollar. On Monday, the rand was trading at R14.91 to the dollar, R21.05 to the pound and R17.01 to the euro.
- In global news, Asian stocks wobbled on Monday and Japan’s Nikkei index slid as the dollar notched a fresh 17-month low against the yen. A sharp rally in crude oil and energy shares lifted US stocks on Friday, but indexes registered losses for the week. Gold jumped to its highest in nearly three weeks on Monday as Asian equities slid and the dollar held close to six-month lows, burnishing demand for the safe-haven metal.
- Oil prices rose on Monday, extending a sharp rally seen at the end of last week after a drop in US inventories and drilling, while outages and hopes that exporters could freeze output also supported prices. US crude rose to $39.91, up 19 US cents from Friday’s close. Brent was up 16 US cents at $42.10 a barrel.
In other news: Bad news for consumers – but the price of bread is set to increase by another 10%, after Treasury announced a 34% increase in the import duty on wheat last week. Rising food prices are expected to hit consumers hard, with the price of meat prices also expected climb by double-digits in the coming months.
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