The health of South African factories will be in the spotlight on Thursday, with four manufacturing-related economic releases diarised.
November kicks off with Absa releasing October’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), done by the Bureau of Economic Research, and the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) releasing October’s new vehicle sales figures.
Stats SA is scheduled to release August manufacturing utilisation figures at 11.30am and September’s electricity consumption and generation figures at 1pm.
A PMI score under 50 indicates a shrinking manufacturing sector. Hopes of recovery in SA’s factories was raised in February, April and July by scores above 50, only to be dashed with a plummet to 43.4 points in August.
Investec Bank economist Lara Hodes said in her weekly note she expects a small rise from September’s 43.2 points to about 44.5 points.
“September’s PMI reading is reflective of a weak economy, operating against a backdrop of mounting supply driven inflationary pressures and relatively subdued domestic activity. Additionally heightened external risks remain,leaving SA’s economy vulnerable to further weakness going forward,” Hodes said.
Chinese stocks were given a fillip on Thursday morning by the Caixin manufacturing PMI for October coming in at 50.1 points, beating the economists’ consensus of 49.9 points.
Naspers, which surged 9.4% to R2,592.68 on Wednesday, looks set for further gains, with its main asset Tencent up 4.49% to HK$279 ahead of the JSE’s opening.
Tencent and other internet-related stocks were given a boost on Wednesday by better than expected quarterly results from Facebook.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.84% and mainland China’s Shanghai composite index was up 1.13%, but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.65% on Thursday morning.
Building material supplier Afrimat warned shareholders on October 17 that it expected to report on Thursday interim basic and headline earnings per share declined by up to 11%.
The rand was trading at R14.72/$, R16.71/€ and R18.93/£ at 6.25am.
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