MONEY LIVE | Implats grows its stake in RBPlat.
Impala Platinum has acquired a further 300 000 shares in Royal Bafokeng Platinum, bringing its shareholding in the miner to 37.93%. The miner has extended a mandatory offer to all shareholders and hopes to ultimately control RBPlats.
Following a spending boom on home improvements during the pandemic, other retailers in the building materials industry have also seen a decline in sales. The decision comes a day before second-quarter gross domestic product data is released, with some observers warning it could show a second successive contraction, which is considered a technical recession.
The figures will provide a clearer idea about the impact of surging inflation and rising interest rates on consumer spending and companies' bottom lines. And Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management added:"While rising jobless claims, softer home sales, and a buildup in gasoline inventory show the Fed front-loading rate hikes are causing a slowdown and bringing inflation under control, the issue is at what cost."
The results come as Twitter has sued Musk for dropping his offer to buy the company, and is now preparing for a legal showdown in a trial set to begin in October. The deal uncertainty has worried Twitter's advertisers and caused chaos inside the company. But inflation pressures and fears of a recession this year have forced brands to rethink their marketing budgets.
The regulatory and antitrust conditions to the deal have also been satisfied but the scheme remains conditional on the order being delivered to the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales which is expected to occur on 25 July.Grindrod has appointed executive director Xolani Mbambo to succeed Andrew Waller as group CEO with effect from January 2023.
The gains come at the end of a rollercoaster week for Asian investors, who are trying to gauge their outlook with earnings so far relatively positive but economic data mixed and geopolitical events tempering sentiment. Analyst Tapas Strickland said July data was considered volatile owing to seasonal adjustments, but that the higher jobless claims were"consistent with growing anecdotes of hiring freezes and layoffs at several multinational companies" such as Google, Apple and Microsoft.
But Chris Murphy, of Susquehanna International Group warned that with the Fed's policy meeting due next week and plenty of earnings to come he did not"necessarily think we're totally out of the woods yet". Fresh political upheaval in Italy -- with the downfall of Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government -- will provide another headache for the ECB, which also has to contend with the constant threat of an energy crisis.
In a trading statement on Thursday, the company said headline earnings for the six months ended in June are likely to be between R10.87 million and R12.03 million, a decrease of between 48% and 53% from the first half of last year. Total production decreased by 13% to 17.8 million tons in the first half of the year, on the back of a challenging first quarter, with improvements coming through in the second quarter, Kumba said.
Didi ran afoul of the CAC when it pressed ahead with its U.S. IPO even though the regulator had urged the company to put it on hold while a cybersecurity review of its data practices was conducted, sources have told Reuters. Asian investors on Thursday struggled to maintain momentum from the previous day's equity rally and keep up with another Wall Street advance as growth fears continue to haunt trading floors and sap risk sentiment.
Focus is now on events in Europe, where the European Central Bank is set to hike rates for the first time in more than a decade, with most observers expecting a quarter-point lift and some speculating about a half-point move. Vladimir Putin has said the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will be turned back on, but added that they would be limited unless a row over some elements of the sanctions is resolved.Western leaders remain cynical over his plans ahead of the northern hemisphere winter.
And Cameron Dawson, of NewEdge Wealth, said the recent gains could not yet be taken as a sign of a recovery. Analysts said that with many investors having priced in a weak reporting season, above-forecast readings were giving a lift to stocks. Traders there were given a much-needed lift by a Wall Street Journal report saying Beijing is expected to hit Didi Global with the billion dollar fine before bringing the curtain down on its painful investigation.
All eyes are now on the European Central Bank's policy decision Thursday, where it is expected to announce its first rate hike in more than a decade as it looks to rein in soaring inflation. Moscow shut down deliveries to Germany for technical reasons last week, but there had been fears it would keep the taps off in retaliation for European sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine."Recession fears certainly haven't gone away and the rebound in equities over the past week could as much reflect a recovery from oversold levels and extreme levels of pessimism," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes.
Deliveries via the pipeline are critical for Europe to fill its reserves to a sufficient level to make it through the winter without supply disruptions. The euro meanwhile jumped around one percent against the dollar, as traders mulled whether the European Central Bank could hike interest rates more than expected to fight runaway inflation.The ECB has signalled it would raise eurozone interest rates on Thursday for the first time in more than a decade but is under pressure to do more to tackle spiralling prices.
While some are predicting inflation may have reached its peak, oil prices -- the key driver of soaring costs - remain elevated. "Tongaat Hulett continues to make every effort to finalise its restructuring plan, on which the publication of the provisional results and integrated annual report depend, as soon as possible," said Tongaat in a statement on Tuesday.
And analysts warned that with the earnings season just getting under way, there could be more pain ahead for investors as firms report falling profits or warn about the outlook. "Investors are hoping for a 'kitchen-sink' quarter where corporates flush out all the bad news at once -- but I am not sure that will happen, and I think this makes it difficult to put an absolute bottom on the equity selloff."
"We always hear that the rate hikes are in the price, but they are always a shock when the market actualises the reality, especially when they are of the jumbo variety." Many fear Vladimir Putin will keep it shut down in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. That would deal another blow to the already creaking eurozone economy and could send crude prices soaring.
"The fine was imposed because Binance offered crypto services in the Netherlands without registering them with the DNB as is legally required," it said.Companies that offer cryptocurrency services in the Netherlands are obliged to register their activities under a law designed to prevent money laundering and financing terrorism.
Cryptocurrencies operate in a largely unregulated corner of the economy and the value of the major ones tends to fluctuate wildly. The JSE's All-Share Index was up 2.8% by midday on Monday, with large gains in Exxaro , Aspen and Richemont . The rand was flat at R17.06/$. Speculation that Saudi Arabia will lift oil production after Joe Biden's visit last week also provided some relief as crude prices - a key driver of inflation in recent months - dropped.
Market analysts widely expect the bank to announce a 75 basis point lift, though some have suggested a one percentage point increase could be on the cards. In early trade, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Jakarta and Wellington were all up. Tokyo was closed for a holiday. The expected blow to demand from the world's top crude importer has weighed on prices of the commodity, with both main contracts giving up most of the gains seen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The move comes after Deighton lodged an application to the court to have the FSCA's investigation into his possible involvement in alleged fraud at the Tongaat. The extension comes after Northam Platinum – which is also keen to acquire a controlling interest in RBPlat, was granted leave to participate in the merger proceedings before the Competition Tribunal, although with certain limited rights.Asian stocks mixed as recession fears grow, China data falls well short
The latest outsized US inflation print this week -- caused by a spike in energy prices -- followed last Friday's news that jobs creation remained strong in June, giving the Fed room to press ahead with its campaign to suck cash out of the financial system. Wall Street's three main indexes mostly fell, with sentiment weighed by the disappointing reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley. They will be followed over the next few days by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
"Front-loading a 50 basis point hike and revealing a solid anti-fragmentation tool seems the optimal solution for the central bank... but that is likely not enough to support a sustainable euro rebound. The Economic Community of West African States court issued its ruling following a suit brought by a Nigerian NGO called the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and rights campaigners.
Commercial lawyer Happy Masondo has been appointed as Dis-Chem's independent non-executive director, as well as a member of the audit and risk, social and ethics, and nomination and remuneration committees. "The board thanks Mrs Saltzman, a joint co-founder of the company, for her years of dedication to the company and her contribution as a director, and looks forward to her continuous impact as she focuses on her operational role," Dis-Chem said.
Months of soaring inflation have rocked global markets as central banks, fearing prices will run too high, are forced to quickly withdraw the ultra-cheap cash policies put in place at the start of the pandemic.
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