Think Daily 16 September 2021

In Wednesday’s trading session in the local markets, the Top 40 closed the day up by 0.20%. The Resources 10 sector went up by 1.19%, the Financial 15 went up by 0.37%, the Industrial 25 went down by 0.64% and lastly the South African Listed Property index down by 1.85%. The Rand traded at R14.44 against the United State Dollar, R19.93 against the Great British pound, and R17.02 against the Euro.  Rand fell as a drop in retail sales (from 10.5% to -0.8% on a YoY) primarily due to riots which hit parts of Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng earlier in the year. This is the biggest monthly fall in sales since April 2020. All Share Index closed slightly firmer as weak Chinese data kept gains in check. On the corporate front, Sibanye Stillwater buys ioneer’s Nevada lithium mine project for R7 billion, 50:50 joint venture deal. FirstRand, which runs the country’s largest retail bank reported a 56% jump in profit and credit loss ratio (%) decreased from 1.91 in FY’21 to 1.06 in FY’20




On the commodities front, the Brent Crude oil is trading at $75.52 a barrel and WTI Crude oil traded at $72.67 a barrel. Gold Spot price is currently trading at $786.54, Platinum Spot is now trading at $945.00 and lastly, Palladium Spot price is at $2023.00. Oil declined in early Asian trade following another large drawdown in U.S. oil inventories. Gold was little changed in early Asia trade, as investors weighed the rise in Treasury yields
Across the globe, the S&P 500 closed the day up 0.85%, Dow Jones closed up 0.68% and the Nasdaq had a 0.78% up. The FTSE 100 closed down 0.25% and the DAX was down 0.68% and CAC40 was down 1.04%. In the Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 is down 0.62% and the Hang Seng is currently down 2.06%. Wall street heavy weights closed up as rising crude prices boosted energy shares. Chinese stocks were broadly higher in early trade, as investors took a breather from China's weak economic data on Wednesday. Japanese stocks were up slightly, led by gains in energy, shipping, and auto stocks, as hopes continued for fiscal stimulus. In the latest news, Australia has partnered with US and Britain to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Things to look out for today in the trading day: Eurozone Trade Balance (Jul) at 11.00 am, US Continuing Jobless Claims at 14.30 pm, US Initial Jobless Claims at 14.30 pm and US Retail Sales (YoY/MoM) (Aug) at 14.30 pm.