5 things you need to know before trading opens today
·10 May 2016
Here’s what is happening in the markets:
- President Jacob Zuma says that government is optimistic about South Africa’s economic situation, despite the latest jobs data showing a new low with 355,000 jobs lost in Q1 2016, and continued strain in the global commodities market. Zuma used the announcement that ratings agency Moody’s would not downgrade the country at this time as a sign that government was doing a good job keeping the country afloat.
- Oxford scholar Ntokozo Qwabe, who was accused of bullying a white waitress and reducing her to tears, has lashed out at media reports, saying they got the story completely wrong by placing him at the centre of the controversy when a transgendered black activist was the one who wrote the message saying “we’ll give you a tip when you return the land”. The incident led to R150,000 being raised for the waitress – an amount Qwabe calls “hysterical”.
- South Africa’s rand and stocks retreated on Monday after a global commodity selloff and a firmer dollar put emerging assets under pressure, with the currency slumping to its weakest level in a month. On Tuesday the rand was trading at R15.21 to the dollar, R21.91 to the pound and R17.32 to the euro.
- In global news, Asian stocks slipped to two-month lows on Monday as weak oil prices weighed on sentiment while the dollar got a lift against its peers as the differences in policy directions between the world’s top central banks became starker. Wall Street ended mixed on Monday after a rally in Allergan Plc and other healthcare companies offset a decline in energy shares.
- Oil prices were steady on Tuesday as brimming inventories and a looming refined products glut offset supply disruptions in Canada and elsewhere that have taken more than 2 million barrels a day of production out of the market. US crude futures were trading at $43.09 per barrel, down 35 cents, while Brent crude was down 26 cents at $43.37 a barrel.
In other news: Roads agency Sanral is seeking to recoup as much as R760 million from construction companies which were found guilty of collusion. However, opposition group, Outa, says the agency still has to account for more than R10 billion its findings say was over-spent on e-tolling.
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