Daily Market Review

Friday, 22 March 2024

US equity markets closed higher. Semiconductors, banks, asset managers, homebuilders, machinery, road & rail, building products, and auto suppliers outperformed. Restaurants, casinos, discounters & dollar stores, pharmaceuticals & biotech, insurers, beverages, pet products, fertilizers, commodity chemicals, precious metals miners, and Chinese tech underperformed. Existing home sales climbed 9.5% m/m in February. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note closed at 4.27%.
European equity markets were higher. Technology, basic resources, and real estate outperformed while autos and utilities underperformed. The Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged as expected, however, the Swiss Central Bank surprised the market by cutting interest rates by 25 basis points. The Eurozone PMI improved due to strong services sector activity.
S&P500 +0.32% Dow +0.68% Nasdaq +0.20% FTSE100 +1.88% DAX +0.91% CAC +0.22%

Asian equities markets are trading lower, Hong Kong and mainland China markets are underperforming as technology and real estate stocks weigh on the main indices. The Chinese Yuan fell to a 4-month low against the US Dollar. Japan’s inflation rate increased to 2.8% y/y from 2.0% y/y previously.
Nikkei -0.11% Hang-Seng -3.04% Shanghai -1.41% ASX -0.38%

The JSE closed higher on Wednesday. Resources outperformed, adding more than 2%. Precious metals and retailers added 3.35% and 1.43% respectively. SA’s inflation increased to 5.6% y/y in February, up from 5.3% y/y in January. Retail sales declined by 2.1% y/y in February. The SA 10-year bond closed at 10.68%.

Notable Gainers/Losers:

PicknPay +9.09% Angloplats +7.49% Northam +6.49% Implats +4.81% RCL +4.62% Kumba +4.53% Harmony +4.35% ARM +4.06% Goldfields +3.30%
Remgro -4.79% South32 -4.30% Richemont -2.43% Reinet -2.42% Sun International -2.33% Bats -2.12% Growthpoint -2.00% Hyprop -1.66% Redefine -1.47%

JSE All-Share +0.77% JSE Top 40 +0.80% Industrials +0.64% Resources +2.10% Financials -0.03%

JSE All-Share 72,420
S&P500 5,241
USDZAR 18.94
EURZAR 20.52
GBPZAR 23.94
EURUSD 1.08
GBPUSD 1.26
GBPEUR 1.17
AUDZAR 12.36
NZDZAR 11.39
Brent Crude $85.97 ($/bbl)
Gold $2,181 ($/oz)
Platinum $905 ($/oz)
Palladium $999 ($/oz)
Copper $8’874 ($/mt)
Uranium $89.35 ($/lbs)

Sources: FactSet, Yahoo Finance, Trading Economics, BusinessDay Live, WSJ