5 things you need to know before trading opens today
·13 Apr 2016
Here’s what is happening in the markets:
- The latest figures from the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) show that investors in the country have continued to lose money, thanks to the depreciation of the rand. The data also showed that investors moved their money out of the country at an alarming rate at the end of 2015 – driven to flee by poor decisions made by president Jacob Zuma. Worse still, slow growth and the risk of junk status means that it’s unlikely many investors will return any time soon.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again cut South Africa’s growth forecast in its World Economic Outlook, shaving off 0.1% of the prospective growth to just 0.6%. This is the second time in 2016 that the group has cut the forecast, having previously revised economic growth down from 1.3% to 0.7% in January. Both the IMF and the World Bank have the estimate at 0.6% now, with government pinning it at 0.9%.
- South Africa’s rand firmed for the third day against the dollar on Tuesday, riding on increased appetite for emerging markets and as local political headlines which have weighed on the currency in recent weeks took a back seat. On Wednesday, the rand was trading at R14.73 to the dollar, R20.99 to the pound and R16.73 to the euro.
- In global news, Asian share markets extended early gains on Wednesday after upbeat Chinese trade data offered hope the economy was stabilising, underpinning both risk sentiment and commodity prices. Wall Street gained on Tuesday, led by surging energy shares that were buttressed by rising oil prices, as investors scooped up equities at the start of corporate earnings season.
- Oil futures fell in Asian trade on Wednesday as profit-taking and concern over a larger-than-expected build in US crude stocks outweighed a report that Russia and Saudi Arabia had reached consensus on an oil output cap. Brent crude had dropped US 30 cents to $44.39 a barrel, while UD crude dropped 40 US cents to $41.77 a barrel.
In other news: MMM, the apparent Ponzi Scheme set up by Russian fraudster Sergey Mavrodi in South Africa, is reportedly freezing the payout of its internal currency, leaving clients panicking in the dark – while Mavrodi is nowhere to be found.
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