Unum Market Commentary: Equities Hit Record High

28 ago 2018

Global equity markets started the week on a strong note, continuing the upward momentum following comments last week by the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the committee sees "gradual" interest rate increases and no clear signs that inflation would accelerating above target. Adding to the "risk-on" sentiment was the revised trade agreement between the US and Mexico as well as news that the Chinese central bank would look to support the currency. On the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P500 (all time high) closed higher by 1.01% and 0.77% respectively, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index also hit a record high, topping 8000 index points for the first time ever. On the JSE, the All Share Index saw it's best level since January of this year, boosted by a strong performance out of financial shares as the Fini15 added 2.17% on the day.

JSE Major Sectors

Resources 10 +2.04%
Industrial 25 +1.06%
Financial 15 +2.17%

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Join the Unum Trading Desk on Friday 7 Sep 2018 starting at 14:15 as we look to trade the EURUSD Forex pair on the NFP data. t.me/NFP7SEP2018


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In currencies, the South African Rand trades as follows:

USDZAR +0.48% to 14.22
GBPZAR +0.33% to 18.31
EURZAR +0.42% to 16.60

Gold trades at $1207
Platinum at $816
Brent Crude Oil at $76.48

International Markets

This morning, Asian equities are as follows:

Nikkei 225 (+0.39%)
Hang Seng (+0.26%)
Shanghai Composite (0.00%)

Latam Markets closed as follows:

Merval 25 (+1.06%)
Bovespa (+2.19%)
INMEX (+1.73%)
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Company News

Homechoice International - Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2018 and cash dividend declaration

Financial Highlights
- Revenue up 16.1% to R1.5 billion
- Retail sales up 18.9% to R856 million
- Loan disbursements up 30.0% to R853 million
- Credit extended on digital channels up 54.7% to 39.1% of all credit
- Cash generated from operations up 37.9% to R240 million
- Headline earnings per share up 14.7% to 250 cents -
- Customer base up 5.0% to 836 000
- Interim dividend up 15.9% to 95 cents
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Aus miners:
BHP Billiton (+0.97%)
Rio Tinto (+0.75%)
S32 (+2.37%)

FANGs
Facebook (+1.61%)
Amazon (+1.17%)
Netflix (+1.61%)
Google (+1.58%)

FTSE Miners:
UK Market Closed on 27-Aug-2018

Alibaba Holdings (+3.68%)
Tencent Holdings (+1.16%)

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Please feel free to contact the Unum Trading desk for any advice or trading related queries.

011 384 2929