South Africa kisses R6.6 billion goodbye, and Oracle cutting thousands of jobs

The rand closed at R16.12 against the US dollar on Friday, ending the week weaker than where it started and back over the R16/$ mark.

The currency weakened as renewed Middle East hostilities strengthened the dollar and sent the price of oil close to $110 per barrel.

Despite this, JSE indices closed Friday slightly stronger than they opened, with the All Share Index up 0.15% and the Top 40 Index up 0.19%.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond yield weakened in early deals, rising by 5.5 bps to 8.76%.

Global investor focus remained on US inflation data, which ran at a 3.4% annual rate during the month of August.

This has raised expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at its meeting next week.

Oil closed at around $104 per barrel on Friday, easing slightly but still ending the week above $100 for the first time since mid-May.

Rising attacks along key shipping routes in the Middle East have fuelled concerns of prolonged supply disruptions.

Meanwhile, gold finished yesterday at $4,347.30 per ounce, weaker than where it started the week.

On Saturday morning, the rand was trading at R16.12 to the US dollar, R18.70 to the euro, and R21.81 to the British pound.

Important finance and investing news

South Africa kisses R6.6 billion goodbye: A new report from the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa shows that illicit trade in the cosmetics, personal care and pharmaceutical sectors can cost the country more than R6.6 billion annually. [BusinessDay]

Oracle cutting thousands of jobs: Oracle has increased the scale of its planned job cuts by an additional $700 million, with the total cost of its “2026 Restructuring Plan” now sitting at around $2.8 billion. Oracle has already accrued $2.1 billion in costs in relation to the plan. [Bloomberg]

Dell hits all-time high: Shares in Dell Technologies reached a new all-time peak on Friday of $565 after experiencing a slide on Thursday, sending CEO Michael Dell into the number three spot on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list with a net worth of $274 billion, ahead of Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos. [Yahoo Finance]

Crypto investor pledges £36 million donation: BitMEX founder Ben Delo, who was convicted of violating the Bank Secrecy Act in the US before being pardoned by Donald Trump, has said he will donate £36 million to Britain’s Reform UK party before the next national election. [Reuters]

State-run financial scheme falling short: Calls for a review of the current funding model at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) are growing as the scheme’s funding shortfall continues to rise, with it now estimated at R33 billion. [EWN]