Business

5 things you need to know before trading starts today

Staff Writer

 ·12 May 2016

Here’s what’s happening in the markets:

• Nothing is going to stop South Africa’s nuclear energy plans from moving ahead, with energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson saying that the plan will play out over the next 15 years, in a process that will be corruption free. The nuclear plans will add 9600MW of power to the grid at a speculated cost of $100 billion. This is on top of the 7000MW of renewable power that the minister said will be added to the SA grid by July 2016.

• The Public Investment Corporation has hit back at reports that it lost R100 billion following the move by Jacob Zuma to fire former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December 2015. The group, which manages over R1.8 trillion in assets, said that, while its holdings dropped R100 billion in value following the move, the market started recovering after Pravin Gordhan was appointed as the new minister, effectively reversing the damage.

• South Africa’s rand firmed against the dollar on Wednesday as the dollar weakened globally but the local currency remained vulnerable due to weak domestic economic growth. Stocks also gained with mining shares among the biggest gainers as prices of commodities such as bullion cruised higher. On Thursday the rand was trading at R15.07 to the dollar, R21.77 to the pound and R17.22 to the euro.

• In global news, Asian shares fell on Thursday following a dismal day on Wall Street, while the dollar took a breather from this week’s rebound and crude oil gave back some of its recent gains. US stocks dropped on Wednesday and the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst day since February as feeble quarterly reports from big companies undermined confidence across the consumer sector.

• Oil prices fell early on Thursday, weighed by the gradual return of Canadian oil sands production, reversing a sharp rise the previous day when the US government detailed an unexpected fall in crude inventories. Brent crude futures were trading at $47.47 per barrel on Thursday, down 13 cents, while US crude futures dropped 12 cents to $46.11.

In other news: The EFF has dismissed the ANC’s long-held claims that it liberated black South Africans, saying that it was the people – unarmed youth and workers who protested against the apartheid government – and not the ANC’s military wing, Mkhonto weSizwe, that brought down the oppressive regime.