Star 2024-08-07

Nedbank lifted its interim dividend 11.5% to 971 cents per share in a challenging trading environment and a stronger economy in the second half. A good pipeline of renewable energy projects and further strides in executing strategy should see the lender meet its medium-term targets, its executives said yesterday. The bank has fallen under the media spotlight recently as it gears up for a legal battle with the Special Investigating Unit and Transnet over alleged R2.7 billion in interest rate swops transactions dating back to the state capture-era in 2015/16. The bank has said it was confident that it “did no wrong” in the transactions, and no provisions were set aside for the legal case in the interim results. Diluted headline earnings a share (Heps) increased by 12%, benefiting from…

STOCK markets across the globe started to recover yesterday after Monday’s shock that caused a worldwide bloodbath across bourses. Locally, the JSE’s All-Share Index ended the day slightly down 0.19% at 79 430.05 points after Monday’s negative 1.19% close. The rand see-sawed between its opening at R18.48 to the dollar and a low of R18.58, before its R18.46 in late afternoon trade. Analysts have marked Monday’s rout as a knee-jerk reaction to less than favourable data coming out of the US as growth in the labour market slowed, resulting in the Goldman Sachs Group pegging the chance of a US recession at 25% – up from a previous 15%. Japan’s Nikkei 225, which on Monday experienced its worst rout since 1987 on news that the lending rate was going up…

Transnet Pipelines (TPL), a division of Transnet, has issued an expression of interest to repurpose the Lilly gas pipeline from transporting methane rich gas (MRG) to regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG). “The expression of interest process will help TPL assess market interest and demand, which will inform the pre-feasibility study and future request for proposal (RFP) processes,” it said in a statement yesterday. TPL, a unit of the state parastal Transnet, said: “With the demand for natural gas expected to rise significantly, Transnet is proactively developing the LNG value chain to safeguard SA’s strategic interests. This initiative positions Transnet’s Natural Gas Networks business as a vital contributor to the country’s long-term economic growth and transformation.” While welcoming the move, the Industrial Gas Users Association said: “The initiative may come too…

In the conclusion of the protracted strike at the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS), the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) yesterday revealed faultlines in entities under the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (dtic). Nehawu also alleged serious governance breaches at the SABS, which were leading to corruption. Its deputy secretary-general, December Mavuso, speaking in the aftermath of the two-week strike that has finally been resolved with the intervention of Trade, Industry, and Competition Minister Parks Tau. Mavuso said there was a need for harmonisation of remuneration and benefits, as well as centralised bargaining at the dtic. The polarised structures in the dtic were resulting in “department hopping”, he claimed. “There are a lot of issues at the SABS and the other entities at the department, which…

Towards the end of the sixth administration, several international export markets were opened as stated by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen in Parliament recently. Considering that South Africa’s agriculture sector is focused on exports, this is significant. Opening markets is even more important given the need to reform the sector due to the rise in emerging farmers who are ready for the market, improved farming practices, and the adoption of new technology that have enhanced yields and productivity across multiple industries. The following markets, which South Africa sealed in the latter months of the previous administration, must be maintained and will be key in keeping South Africa’s agricultural export earnings on a positive trajectory. This is crucial for retaining thousands of jobs in the agricultural sector, contributing to the country’s gross…

It’s an old cliché but the phenomenon known as Turnaround Tuesday – when markets rebound from a sell-off at the start of the week – is an opportunity that shows up time and again in the data. The bad news is such recoveries don’ guarantee the bottom has been reached. Investor psychology during a rout tends to begin with jitters on Thursday, hedging on Friday, and all-out selling on Monday, according to Brent Donnelly, veteran trader and president of trading analysis firm Spectra Markets. By Tuesday, the downdraft is primed for a reversal, he wrote in a note published on Monday. The numbers support the thesis. Prior to this week, the S&P 500 had fallen on a consecutive Thursday, Friday, and Monday a total of 582 times; and the subsequent…