Trump buys SpaceX, and Joburg pleads for private investment

The rand has been steady in early trade on Tuesday, 25 August, ahead of the release of the Reserve Bank’s leading business cycle indicator for June.

This comes after the local currency started the week on firm footing, hovering near its strongest level since the Iran war started. The rand has benefited from a subdued dollar and firm gold.

The JSE has seen a less strong start to the week, with the All Share and Top 40 Indices in the red, down 0.88% and 0.9%, respectively.

Wall Street also closed lower on Monday following a renewed sell-off in semiconductors.

This dragged the Nasdaw 0.97% weaker, with Nvidia down 2.9% for a seventh straight session.

Memory names Micron and SanDisk were also sold off after a Chinese chipmaker filed to list in Shanghai. 

The S&P 500 shed 0.28%, while a defensive rotation into consumer staples nudged the Dow 0.15% higher. 

In Asia on Tuesday morning, Citadel Global managing director Biance Botes said the picture is steadier than the open suggested. 

The KOSPI pared its early plunge to trade 1.13% softer, with Samsung and SK Hynix still under pressure. At the same time, the Nikkei clawed back into positive territory, up 0.31%.

In commodities markets, the Brent crude oil price is $91 per barrel, firmer as markets respond to fresh United States sanctions on Iran and reports of tanker disruptions near Oman and in the Red Sea. 

Gold is holding near a three-month high at $4,634 per ounce, which is a fraction softer but well supported by the US Treasury’s expanded bond buyback.

This buyback of long-dated debt has pushed the dollar to multi-month lows, also benefiting the rand.

Global investors will look forward to the US consumer confidence reading that is set to be released on Tuesday.

Botes said this reading will set the tone, alongside new home sales and remarks from the Federal Reserve’s Tom Barkin ahead of Thursday’s Jackson Hole symposium.

On Tuesday morning, the rand was trading at R16.02 against the United States dollar, R18.67 against the euro, and R21.82 against the British pound.

Important finance and investing news

Private sector to save Johannesburg: The City of Johannesburg wants the private sector to redevelop key properties in the CBD that have fallen into disrepair. It wants private capital to rebuild Noord Taxi Rank, South Africa’s largest, and to upgrade properties around Constitutional Hill. [BusinessDay] 

South Korean stock market kisses $2.5 trillion goodbye: South Korea’s Kospi index has erased $2.5 trillion of market value in the past few months, hitting AI investors hard. Driven by Samsung and SK Hynix, the Kospi had tripled in 2026 before falling 40% in six weeks. [Wall Street Journal] 

South Africa sitting on a gold mine: Parliament will hold public hearings for communities about oil and gas exploration and development in South Africa. It said a balance needs to be struck between protecting the environment and tapping into a gold mine that could revolutionise South Africa’s economy. [EWN]

Trump snaps up SpaceX shares: US President Donald Trump bought $50,000 worth of SpaceX shares two weeks after its record IPO. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Reuters that the president’s stock portfolio is managed by third-party financial institutions. [Tech Crunch/Yahoo Finance] 

US sends a warning to Iran allies: President Donald Trump’s administration warned countries to cut their business ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions as part of what it ​billed as an “economic D-Day,” but the Treasury Department stopped short of actually imposing penalties. [Reuters]