Bulls n Bears Daily Market Commentary : 20 March 2018

Tue Mar 20 16:48:25 CAT 2018

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Bulls n Bears Daily Market Commentary : 20 March 2018

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Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Update

Market Turnover $1,469,614.92 with foreign buys at $611,813.54 and foreign
sales were $305,036.25. Total trades were 47.

The All Share index gained 0.28 points  to settle at 86.50 points. CAFCA
added $0.0800 to trade at $0.4800, DELTA  put on $0.0200 to $1.5800 while
OLD MUTUAL went up by $0.0158 to end at $5.4658. PPC and mining company
RIOZIM increased by $0.0025 to close at $0.9525 and $1.2050 respectively,
INNSCOR  rose by $0.0024 to $0.9374 and ECONET closed at $0.6800 after
adding $0.0020.

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO was the only counter trading in the negative
territory losing $0.2257 to end $19.7500.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Global Currencies & Equity Markets

South Africa

South African rand steady ahead of current account, CPI data

(Reuters) - South Africa’s rand steadied against the dollar early on Tuesday
as investors awaited current account and consumer price inflation data due
later in the day, as well as a Moody’s ratings review on Friday.

* At 0610 GMT, the rand traded at 12.0200 per dollar, not far off its
overnight close of 12.0225.

* The central bank will publish current account data for the last quarter of
2017 at 0800 GMT, while the statistics office will release February CPI
numbers at the same time.

* Moody’s rating decision expected on Friday and a widely anticipated hike
in U.S. interest rates on Wednesday have also kept a lid on demand for the
rand.

* In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026
was down 2 basis points at 8.16 percent.

Kenya

Kenyan shilling firm after central bank rate cut

(Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was firm against the dollar on Tuesday, a
day after the central bank cut its rate to 9.5 percent from 10 percent,
traders said.

At 0858 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.20/40 per dollar,
unchanged from Monday's close.

America

Stocks heal after FANG bite, Fed bets lift dollar

(Reuters) - A worldwide selloff of internet stocks caused by reports of
industrial-scale misuse of Facebook data began to ease on Tuesday, while the
dollar was flying ahead of what is expected to be the first of at least
three U.S. rate hikes this year.

Wall Street opened almost flat with Facebook inching down 0.3 percent after
its near 7 percent drop on Monday while the rest of the so-called FANGs —
Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet — all nudged modestly higher.

Europe’s tech stocks were also back to level pegging after an early 0.3
percent dip, on the ripple effect of the reports that Facebook had allowed
improper access to some 50 million of its users data.

There were other tech problems too. An accident involving an Uber test car
on Monday which resulted in the first fatality involving a fully autonomous
vehicle further weighed on Silicon Valley sentiment.

Shares in European chipmakers had also faced pressure, while Germany’s SAP
declined 0.5 percent, hit by a knock-on effect from U.S. business software
peer Oracle, whose quarterly revenue missed analysts’ estimates.

The currency market was focused on other things namely the dollar as it
climbed to a one-week high against the Japanese yen as traders limbered up
for the start of a two-day Fed Reserve meeting.

With a quarter point hike — its sixth since the Fed began raising interest
rates in late 2015 — baked into market prices, major currencies were largely
moving in ranges though.

Markets expect at least two more rate hikes after Wednesday for the
remainder of the year, although analysts acknowledged that the central
bank’s ‘dot plot’ could potentially points to as many as four.

Along with some expectations of a more confident sounding Fed, a sharp drop
in a confidence survey among German investors also weighed on the euro which
was down 0.5 percent and buying $1.227.

The ZEW research institute said its monthly survey showed economic sentiment
among investors dropped to 5.1, its lowest reading in a year and a half,
from 17.8 in the previous month. The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll
was for 13.0.

TRADE TENSIONS

In addition, the potential for a trade war cast a shadow over export
currencies after U.S. President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The Trump administration is also expected to unveil up to $60 billion in new
tariffs on Chinese imports by Friday, targeting technology,
telecommunications and intellectual property, two officials briefed on the
matter said Monday.

U.S. businesses were alarmed with several large U.S. retail companies,
including Wal-Mart Inc and Target Corp , on Monday urging Trump not to
impose massive tariffs on goods imported from China.

Back in Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 index slightly outperformed the broader
European market, up 0.4 percent, as investors cheered a transition deal
reached between Britain and the European Union on Monday.

The British pound just below $1.40 and 1.14 euro again having had a bumper
day on Monday.

The Fed bets kept long-term U.S. bond yields nudging higher with short-dated
yields up too.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was up at almost 2.89 percent, 6 basis
points below the four-year high of 2.957 percent touched a month ago.
Two-year notes hit a 9 1/2-year high of 2.33 percent.

Analysts are betting the Fed will bump up its policy interest rates to
1.50-1.75 percent from the current 1.25-1.50 percent.

The dollar was also higher against the yen at 106.46 per dollar, with
Japanese traders also wary of any new developments in a cronyism scandal
that has eroded support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Among the major commodities, oil prices jumped in line with the dollar and
as investors remained wary of growing crude supply although tensions between
Saudi Arabia and Iran provided some support.

Brent crude futures traded at $67.21 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate
(WTI) futures were $63.20a barrel.

Commodities Markets

Russia's top gold miner wants to become global player in antimony market

(Reuters) - Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus plans to start selling
antimony, targeting up to 15 percent of global output of the metal used
primarily to make fire retardants and batteries.

Its decision coincides with rising prices of the metal ANT-LON, which is
trading in Europe at its highest level since June, around $8,700 a tonne,
due to tight Chinese supply.

Polyus, controlled by the family of Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, said it
will produce the metal at its large Olimpiada gold deposit in Russia which
has reserves of high-content antimony ore.

China, Japan and South Korea are the world’s top antimony consumers.

Polyus said it has already signed sales contracts for all of its 2018
production of the metal and is preparing to make its first delivery, to
China.

Global production of antimony was estimated at 150,000 tonnes in 2017,
United States Geological Survey data shows. More than 70 percent of that was
produced by China, which has been tightening environmental regulations and
beefing up its monitoring capabilities.

Polyus said it plans to produce concentrate containing 200,000 troy ounces
of gold annually and 15,000-20,000 tonnes of antimony. The total amount of
high content antimony ore to be mined at the Olimpiada deposit between 2017
and 2026 is estimated at 11 million tonnes.

The antimony project will also allow Polyus to reduce its total cash costs
by $10 to $15 per ounce, the company added.

Earlier on Tuesday the company said that its total cash cost would be below
$425 per ounce in 2018 and below $450 per ounce in 2019-2020. 

Copper, zinc fall on rising inventories, trade war fears

(Reuters) - Copper and zinc extended losses on Tuesday as rising inventories
highlighted healthy supplies, while concern about trade wars and a stronger
dollar also weighed on industrial metals markets.

London Metal Exchange zinc stocks have shot up by 60 percent this month and
climbed by another 5,350 tonnes on Tuesday to 211,400 tonnes MZNSTX-TOTAL.

Bain said investors also worried that protectionism would lead to slower
global growth.

Fears of a global trade war mounted after U.S. President Donald Trump
imposed hefty import tariffs on steel and aluminium earlier this month and,
according to sources in Washington, the United States is set to unveil new
tariffs specifically targeting China by the end of this week.

LME benchmark zinc was bid down 0.6 percent at $3,242 a tonne after failing
to trade in official open outcry activity.

* COPPER: Three-month LME copper on the LME shed 0.5 percent to trade at
$6,818 a tonne in official rings, marking the fourth session of losses and
extending a 0.5 percent dip from the previous session.

* COPPER STOCKS: LME copper inventories MCUSTX-TOTAL grew by a further 3,200
tonnes to 322,475 tonnes, bringing the gain this year to 61 percent.

* ZAMBIA: Further highlighting growing supplies of the red metal, Zambia
said it expects to produce more than one million tonnes of copper this year
after revising its 2017 copper production upwards on the back of stable
power supply.

* USD: The dollar index edged up as investors positioned themselves ahead of
Wednesday’s policy meeting at the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is widely
expected to raise interest rates.

Higher U.S. rates may support a rising dollar, which would limit demand for
dollar-denominated commodities such as copper from buyers paying with other
currencies.

* ALUMINIUM: LME aluminium added 0.3 percent in official trading to
$2,093.50 a tonne after Japanese aluminium buyers agreed to pay producers
premiums during the second quarter that are 25 percent higher than the first
quarter, reflecting surging spot premiums in the United States.

* PRICES: Lead traded down 0.8 percent at $2,348 a tonne in official rings,
nickel was bid up 0.3 percent at $13,515 and tin traded 0.2 percent firmer
at $20,825.

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

NicozDiamond

finals and analysts briefing

7th Floor Auditorium, Insurance Centre, 30 Samora Machel Avenue

20/03/2018 12pm

Old Mutual Zim

analysts briefing

Stewart Room, Meikles

20/03/2018 2pm

Simbisa

EGM

Royal Harare Golf Club

21/03/2018 9am

Zimplow

final dividend 0.13c per share record

23/03/2018 

TSL

AGM

28 Simon Mazorodze Road, Southerton

27/03/2018 12pm

Willdale

AGM

19.5km peg, Lomagundi Road, Mount Hampden

29/03/2018 11am

Good Friday

30/03/2018 

Easter Monday

02/04/2018

Zimbabwe

Independence Day

Zimbabwe

18/04/2018

Workers’ Day

01/05/2018

Africa Day

25/05/2018

Zimbabwe

Heroes’ Day

Zimbabwe

13/08/2018

Zimbabwe

Defence Forces Day

Zimbabwe

14/08/2018

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has
been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or
warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All
opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be
suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any
other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability
whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its
contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this
report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent
investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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