Bitcoin jumped as much as 10%, rebounding from a weekend selloff, amid speculation cryptocurrencies will gain favour in the wake of sanctions against Russia.
Bitcoin’s 60-day correlation with the S&P 500 has climbed in the wake of the Ukraine crisis with a 0.6 rating level. A value of 1.0 would signify assets moving in perfect harmony and -1.0 would mean completely opposite, with zero showing no correlation at all. But Monday’s move could be the beginning of a divergence based on historical data.
”A report by institutional crypto brokerage Copper this month showed global exchange reserves of Bitcoin - an indicator of what’s available to be sold to traders - reached new lows at the end of January, which the firm’s head of research Fadi Aboualfa said signaled that the cryptocurrency may have found a “fundamental bottom” within its current price range.
In terms of the Companies Act, when a shareholder acquires more than 35% of a company, it is obliged to extend the same offer to all shareholders. Northam disputes that it has triggered such an offer. The panel’s investigation is ongoing.-Lisa SteynThe rouble plunged around 30% on Monday, the euro slid almost 1% versus the dollar, and the safe-haven Swiss franc and Japanese Yen were in demand after Western nations imposed tough new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The euro meanwhile dropped 0.8% to $1.11745 against the dollar and to 129.2 against the yen. It was down 0.9% against the Swiss franc. A 10-year coal supply agreement with the utility, however, expires in April this year and several negotiations to extend the supply agreement, and for Eskom to fulfil an obligation to take up about 11mt of coal from the mine, have not materialised."Given the uncertainty on how long Eskom will take to make a final decision, Wescoal has deemed it prudent to place the mine on care and maintenance to save on overhead costs and capital expenditure," Wescoal said in a statement.
Its revenue grew 9% to R17 billion. RCL declared an interim dividend of 15c per share, unchanged from a year ago. Bidvest has hiked its half-year dividend by almost a third to 380c a share as the company reported a 13% increase in revenue to R50 billion, and a 31% hike in normalised headline earnings for the six months to end-December.
For the year to end-December, fishing group Sea Harvest posted a 5% increase in revenue to R4.6 billion, while its headline earnings increased 4% to R439 million. Benefiting from improved fishing conditions, increased vessel availability, factory efficiencies, and R142 million of hedge gains, the South African fishing segment increased its operating profit by 18% to R672 million.
The interest rate will increase from 9.5% to 20%, the central bank said in a statement. It also temporarily banned brokers from selling securities held by foreigners starting Monday on the Moscow Exchange, without specifying which securities the ban applies to. Authorities also introduced mandatory hard-currency revenues sales for exporters.
Russia and Ukraine together account for a quarter of global wheat exports and a fifth of corn sales. Russia is a major supplier for a swathe of commodities including aluminum, nickel, palladium, oil and gas.As the war intensifies, the risk of logistical turmoil is rising fast across commodities markets, with insurers either refusing to offer cover for vessels sailing into the Black Sea, or demanding huge premiums to do so.
Spot gold rose as much 2.2% to $1,930.85 an ounce, before trading at $1,899.83 by 3:28 p.m. Singapore time. Silver and platinum were little changed.Harmony Gold on Monday declared a dividend of R0.40 per share, down from a previous interim dividend of R1.10, as net profit plunged 69% to R1.4 billion, down from R4.6 billion in the comparative period.
"The first six months of this financial year have been characterised by a number of temporary headwinds that negatively impacted our results, testing our resolve but demonstrating our resilience and determination." Harmony said in its results. The stricter Western penalties further split commodity-rich Russia from global finance by seeking to prevent its central bank from using foreign reserves to blunt sanctions. They also exclude some Russian lenders from the SWIFT messaging system that underpins trillions of dollars worth of transactions.