The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOCLtd. expects a loss of around 20 billion rand ($1.49 billion) for the financial year through March. The estimated loss “is our view based on December 2018 forecasts to year end,” Eskom said in an emailed reply to questions, and due to higher costs to meet demand and to address generation performance. Eskom has said its situation is unsustainable and the government is…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Commodities burst out of the blocks in the new year, surging more than 5 percent in January as oil posted a record advance. In the first full week of February, investors have a crowded agenda, with events and commentary due from market leaders in metals, energy and agriculture. In iron ore, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the largest U.S. producer, reports earnings this week and boss Lourenco Goncalves may offer insights into the state…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Political chaos and a series of tax hikes pushed the average price of a home in London’s most-desired districts down by almost 5 percent last year, paring it to a low not seen since the start of 2013. Home prices in the U.K. capital’s prime postcodes — which include Chelsea, Islington, Kensington and Mayfair — dropped 1.5 percent in the final quarter of 2018 as lawmakers failed to reach an accord on…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Time is fast running out on Brexit and there’s still no solution in sight — yet, pound options traders are remarkably sanguine. The cost of protecting against price swings in sterling has fallen to an almost three-month low even after U.K. lawmakers rejected Theresa May’s withdrawal plan and told her to renegotiate it with the European Union, which has warned it won’t budge. Given the risk of the whole deal…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Traders defied all the jitters over a global economic slowdown and piled into emerging-market ETFs for a 16th straight week. Investors added $3.9 billion to stock and bond ETFs across developing nations as well as those that target specific countries in the week ended Feb. 1 — the most in more than a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s pushed up this year’s inflows to $11.8 billion….

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Goldman Sachs did not expect the Central Bank of Egypt’s decision to suspend the currency repatriation mechanism to make the exchange rate more volatile, despite its recent appreciation. It noted that the pound has been stable even though the majority of portfolio flows to the local bond market over the past two years have taken place outside the repatriation mechanism. It added that the depreciation pressure from the selloff…