Major medicine shortage in South Africa, and South Korea nears $1 trillion target
The rand was trading at R16.33 against the US dollar on the morning of Thursday, 5 November 2026, strengthening sharply from the day before.
Wednesday’s municipal election kept South African markets closed, with local prices and percentage changes reflecting Tuesday’s trading.
The JSE All Share Index closed that session 0.23% lower, while the Top 40 Index declined by 0.24%.
Investor attention turned to the United States’ decision to rescind South Africa’s AGOA eligibility from 1 January 2027.
Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau said this would not end bilateral trade between the two nations.
On Wall Street, equities strengthened sharply amid decisive Democrat victories in the midterm elections.
The Dow Jones led the rally at a 3.03% increase, followed by the S&P 500 at 1.58% and the Nasdaq at 1.44%.
Democratic control of both US congressional chambers also supported European sentiment, seeing the STOXX 600 rise 1.82%.
This is its biggest daily gain since June, and its highest finish since 26 August, despite October inflation rising to 4.0%, raising expectations of December rate tightening.
In Asia, Bank of Japan minutes showed support for potential further tightening, leading the Nikkei 225 to decline 1.42%.
The Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite rose 1.67% and 2.16%, respectively, with gains supported by the preceding US equity rally.
In commodities, Brent crude oil fell for a fourth session to its lowest settlement since 31 August, now hovering around $93 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold approached a two-week peak of $4,137.40 per ounce after gaining nearly 2% amid declining US Treasury yields.
On Thursday morning, the rand was trading at R16.33 to the US dollar, R18.39 to the euro, and R22.03 to the British pound.
Important finance and investing news
South Korea nears $1 trillion target: South Korea’s semiconductor-driven export growth has accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace in October, bringing the country closer to its $1 trillion annual export target. The country is home to the world’s two largest chip makers, Samsung and SK Hynix. [Wall Street Journal]
Major medicine shortage in South Africa: More than one in seven medicines on the national health department’s master products list are in danger of running out, with public hospitals and clinics turning to alternatives and issuing prescriptions for patients to purchase drugs from private sector pharmacies. [BusinessDay]
Trump Media stock nosedives: Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of the Truth Social Platform, plunged 12% in morning trading on Wednesday following the Democratic sweep of the US Congress. Shares of the company are down nearly 60% for the year. [Yahoo Finance]
David Jones enters administration: 188-year-old Australian retailer David Jones has been placed under voluntary administration. The company will continue operating under FTI Consulting, while McGrathNicol has been appointed as administrator and will immediately seek sale offers for the company. [Reuters]
125,000 South African jobs at risk: South Africa’s exclusion from AGOA, starting next year, will put 125,000 jobs directly at risk and up to 500,000 indirectly. Agriculture and motor industries will be hit hardest, with the latter compounded by tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump last year. [The Citizen]
Conversation
1 comments“125,000 South African jobs at risk”
-If SA loses the expected 500 000 jobs through loss of AGOA, SA’s official unemployment rate will climb from 33.6% to 35.7%. Future meets with COSATU is likely to be non-cordial, when the workers realize just how their ANC “friends” have screwed them.
SA still has 16.4 million people employed in jobs.
ANC is demonstrating it’s potential to destroy them all, and avoid blame.