The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Shoprite Holdings Ltd. will look to cut costs outside its home market as Africa’s largest food retailer battles currency shortages and stricter regulation in several countries. The owner of supermarket chains such as Checkers and U-Save has been growing in 14 territories outside South Africa to become a continent-wide superpower, but factors such as inflation — particularly in Angola — have hampered progress. That contributed to a 20% decline in…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The liquidation of cryptocurrencies tied to an alleged ponzi scheme has been among the assorted reasons cited by market pundits for this week’s slide in digital assets. A closer looks suggests that may not be the case. Speculation mounted that the supposed coin dump was the catalyst mounted when Bitcoin and a slew of other coins suddenly crashed around midday Wednesday in New York. Crypto influencer Dovey Wan tweeted that participants in a…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s hard enough to find a stock bull these days. But one sanguine enough about the economic outlook to forecast just one more rate cut this year? That’s a contrarian. That’s Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s investment management unit, which oversees about $1.7 trillion. While it’s still waiting for better entry levels to buy the dip, it continues to favor equities and credit over government bonds in a rejection of…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – As much as $1.6 billion of investments in Ghana have been trapped and the nation’s regulator is stepping in to avoid it getting any bigger. Twenty one fund managers have been banned from accepting new money as Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission looks into whether they violated rules by placing client cash into illiquid assets. Investors who sought to withdraw funds from the firms have found their money unavailable,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The re-emergence of a huge U.S. equity volatility buyer has banks scrambling to hedge the other side of the trades and is even affecting levels on the Cboe Volatility Index, according to Nomura Securities International. In July, a big purchaser accumulated protection against a major sell-off in U.S. stocks over the next month on the so-called VIX, in activity similar to that of the volatility buyer known as “50 Cent” given…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Trade angst whipsawed financial markets Thursday, with U.S. stocks swinging wildly and Treasuries resuming a rally that pushed the 30-year yield below 2% for the first time. Stimulus hopes in Europe weakened the euro. The S&P 500 attempted to bounce back from one of its worst days of the year, boosted by strong earnings from Walmart Inc. and solid data on the American consumer. Tapestry Inc. tumbled on poor sales, adding…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The gold rally fueled by the U.S.-China trade war is unleashing a growing wave of illegal miners who are increasingly pushing into fragile environments that range from Latin America’s Amazon to South Africa. Bullion has surged 18% over three months to the highest in six years. While that’s good news for mining companies, it’s spurring a burst of illegal prospecting that has helped fuel drug trafficking and organized crime within some of the…