Business

5 things you need to know before trading starts today

Staff Writer

 ·7 Apr 2016

Here’s what is happening in the markets:

• Calls are growing for President Jacon Zuma to step down. On Wednesday, a civil action group was launched with the unified aim of getting the president to resign. The group is made up of trade unions and ANC stalwarts, including former Constitutional Court Judge Zak Yacoob, Mavuso Msimang, Cheryl Carolus and Ronnie Kasrils. The coalition also includes nongovernmental organisations, including 34 trade unions.

• Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s – one of the two agencies who have South Africa one notch above junk – has warned that the country’s political turbulence is getting in the way of effective policy execution. The group said that all the plans to accelerate reforms is being drowned out by political noise. S&P’s next review of South Africa is in June.

• The rand bounced back on Wednesday as bets on the currency varied, with focus shifting away from domestic political upheaval to minutes of the United States central bank’s last meeting due later in the session. On Thursday, the currency was trading at R15.08 to the dollar, R21.33 to the pound and R17.20 to the euro.

• In global markets, the yen powered to 17-month peaks on Thursday, trampling Japanese exporter stocks in the process, while a broadly soft dollar gave extra legs to a rally in oil prices. U.S. stocks jumped on Wednesday, bolstered by gains in healthcare shares after the collapse of the $160 billion merger of Pfizer and Allergan, and by a rise in energy shares.

• Crude oil futures rose on a raft of supportive indicators on Thursday, although some traders warned that physical supply and demand fundamentals did not warrant a strong price recovery at this stage. Brent crude jumped above $40 per barrel in early trading and stood at $40.10, up 26 US cents – while US crude was trading at $38.09 per barrel, up 34 US cents.

In other news: South Africa’s energy department said on Wednesday the process to procure six new nuclear power plants to help overcome chronic electricity shortages had been delayed for more consultations – not stalled or put on ice as claimed by opposition parties.