Unum Market Commentary: Global Equities Mixed As Dollar Firms

Although gaining on Tuesday, global equities were up only marginally following strong buying activity on Monday. The S&P 500 Index, which tested 2900 for the first time ever, added 0.03% for the session, while Dow Jones Industrial Average traded above 26000. In the tech sector, the NASDAQ Composite held above the 8000 level, adding 0.15% on the day. In Europe, the DAX was lower by 0.09% while the UK's FTSE100 index and France's CAC40 added 0.52% and 0.11% respectively. On the local market, the All Share Index closed above the 60000 level, adding 0.64% for the session while the Top 40 index was higher by 0.61%, lead by South 32 (6.26%), Richemont (2.34%) and Bidvest (2.23%). On the downside British American Tobacco, Shoprite and Kumbda Iron Ore weighed on the bourse.

JSE Major Sectors

Resources 10 +0.35%
Industrial 25 +0.60%
Financial 15 +1.07%

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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 -0.00% to 14.23
GBPZAR -0.10% to 18.29
EURZAR -0.07% to 16.62

Gold trades at $1209
Platinum at $793
Brent Crude Oil at $76.92

International Markets

This morning, Asian equities are as follows:

Nikkei 225 (+0.14%)
Hang Seng (+0.18%)
Shanghai Composite (-0.21%)

Latam Markets closed as follows:

Merval 25 (-1.58%)
Bovespa (-0.59%)
INMEX (-0.70%)
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Company News

Master Drilling Group Limited - Report to shareholders Unaudited interim report for the six months ended 30 June 2018

Salients Features

- USD Revenue was up by 11.3%
- USD Earnings per share decreased by 4.5% to 6.3 cents
- ZAR Earnings per share decreased by 10,9% to 77,5 cents
- USD Headline earnings per share decreased by 10.6% to 5.9 cents
- ZAR Headline earnings per share decreased by 16,6% to 72,6 cents
- Committed order book of USD114.4 million
- Pipeline of USD358.2 million
- Following dividend for 2017, dividend will be considered at year-end
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Aus miners:
BHP Billiton (+1.26%)
Rio Tinto (+0.19%)
S32 (+1.71%)

FANGs
Facebook (-0.68%)
Amazon (+0.27%)
Netflix (+1.07%)
Google (-0.83%)

FTSE Miners:
Anglo American plc (+3.26%)
BHP Billiton plc (+3.83%)
Glencore plc (+2.07%)

Alibaba Holdings (-1.36%)
Tencent Holdings (-0.66%)