Unum Market Commentary: Results and Rand Lift JSE Financials; Gl

On Thursday a stronger South African Rand helped to lift local shares, keeping the All Share Index in the green by 0.05%. On the day, the local currency traded in a 30c range versus the US Dollar, reaching a low of R15.53 and a high of R15.23. Providing support was banking group Firstrand that released it's results for the year ended 30 June 2018, showing a 12% increase in Diluted Head Earnings Per Share while return on equity came in slightly lower but still at a healthy 23%. Also among the winners were Discovery while other banks such as Nedbank, Standard Bank and Absa added 3.25%, 2.49% and 2.41% respectively. On the downside Kumba Iron Ore, Sappi and Nepi Rockcastle were weaker by 4.85%, 3.22% and 2.76% respectively. In Europe, market continued to slide, with the DAX, FTSE 100 and CAC40 lower by 0.71%, 0.87% and 0.31% respectively. This morning in Asia, concerns around a trade war continue to weigh on markets, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index leading the market lower by a negative 0.92%.

JSE Major Sectors

Resources 10 -1.05%
Industrial 25 +0.04%
Financial 15 +1.69%

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Join the Unum Trading Desk today, 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 +0.07% to 15.33
GBPZAR +0.07% to 19.83
EURZAR +0.12% to 17.83

Gold trades at $1206
Platinum at $789
Brent Crude Oil at $76.40

International Markets

This morning, Asian equities are as follows:

Nikkei 225 (-0.92%)
Hang Seng (-1.19%)
Shanghai Composite (-0.12%)

Latam Markets closed as follows:

Merval 25 (+4.10%)
Bovespa (+1.76%)
INMEX (-0.23%)
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Company News

Sanlam Limited - Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2018

Key features of the 2018 interim results Earnings
- Net result from financial services increased by 8% (up 10% in constant currency)

New Business
- Net value of new covered business up 1% to R791 million (up 4% on consistent economic basis)
- Net new covered business margin of 2,46% (2,61% in 2017)
- New business volumes declined by 1% to R110 billion (in line with 2017 in constant currency)
- Net fund inflows of R17,2 billion compared to R18,9 billion in 2017

Group Equity Value
- Group Equity Value per share of R60,90
- Annualised Return on Group Equity Value per share of 13,7%
- Adjusted annualised Return on Group Equity Value per share of 18,2%; exceeding target of 13%

Capital management
- Executing on our African strategy
- Acquisition of remaining 53% stake in Saham Finances awaiting certain regulatory approvals, anticipated before end of 2018
- R5,5 billion raised at favourable share price to de-risk transaction
- Discretionary capital of R9,9 billion at 30 June 2018 committed to acquisition
- Planned 5% BBBEE share issuance will provide remainder of funding requirement and restore discretionary capital to appropriate level
- Sanlam Group solvency cover ratio of 2,3 times; Sanlam Life Insurance Limited solvency cover ratio for covered business of 2,3 times

Dividend
- No interim dividend declared in line with Group policy
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Aus miners:
BHP Billiton (-1.15%)
Rio Tinto (+1.40%)
S32 (-0.86%)

FANGs
Facebook (-2.78%)
Amazon (-1.83%)
Netflix (+1.55%)
Google (-1.26%)

FTSE Miners:
Anglo American plc (-1.83%)
BHP Billiton plc (-4.55%)
Glencore plc (+2.56%)

Alibaba Holdings (-2.65%)
Tencent Holdings (-0.83%)

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The Unum Capital Trading Desk

Please feel free to contact the trading desk at any time : 011 384 29 29