Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Breaking News - FX FLASH CRASH - Pound plunges 6% in 2 minutes ________________________________________ Sterling dropped more than 6% to below $1.20 in two minutes on Friday amid concerns over the UK’s exit from the EU. Shortly after currency markets opened in Asia on Friday, the pound lost as much as 6.1 per cent to $1.1841. The sharp nature of the move sparked speculation that it could have been triggered by a mistaken “fat finger” trade or a rogue automated algorithm, exacerbated by thinner liquidity during early Asian trade. It was the currency’s lowest since May 1985 and the biggest intraday drop since the 11.1 per cent plunge on June 24 in the wake of theUK’s vote to leave the EU. Friday’s fall added to a torrid week for the British currency, which has slipped 4.6 per cent since comments at the weekend from Theresa May, UK prime minister, that the formal proceedings to take the UK out of the EU would begin no later than March next year. François Hollande, France’s president, on Thursday added to the negative sentiment when he urged the EU to lead tough negotiations with the UK as it leaves the bloc. “The UK has decided to do a Brexit, I believe even a hard Brexit. Well, then we must go all the way through the UK’s willingness to leave the EU,” he said. The pound’s drop occurred at the weakest moment in the trading day — after New York traders had left their desks and as Australian and Japanese markets were getting under way. The US jobs report due later on Friday — a key risk event for markets globally — has also lowered trading appetite, thinning volumes further. Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney, attributed sterling’s drop to an “algo trade that needed to be filled, combined with a lack of liquidity and someone hitting the stop — or exit — level”. Financial markets have become increasingly driven by automated trading in recent years, and glitches can occasionally cause sudden, hyper-fast crashes and rallies. Notable examples include the 2010 “flash crash” in the US stock market, and a violent rise in Treasury bond prices in 2014. Sterling has since recovered to be down 1.4 per cent at $1.2435 in Friday morning trade in Asia. Mitul Kotecha, head of Asia currency and rates strategy at Barclays said: “It was the point of thinnest liquidity for this to happen for sure. But there were real trades done at some of these weak points, so people were clearly prepared to believe in sterling’s new weaker levels.” Michael Every, the head of Asia-Pacific financial markets research at Rabobank, said: “We all expect market volatility on a payrolls Friday… what we don’t usually get is a flash-crash in [the pound], which plunged from an already-weak 1.2610 to an ‘I-can’t-believe-what-I’m-seeing 1.1841’.&
ANGLO AMERICAN Production numbers soft, copper guidance lowered its full-year guidance on Brazilian iron ore to 15-17mt from 15-18mt, copper output in line with expectations, while reporting sales volumes increasing for diamonds but a mixed picture for Q2 production generally. We opened down with a gap the other side of 10dma, at 760-ish, so hopefully this is just FAST money for the short positions.
Market Report: Anglo American enjoys rating upgrade; FTSE 100 eases back from 11-month high on Bank of England inaction Investors piled into mining giant Anglo American after a bullish broker note described the FTSE 100 stock as “increasingly cheap”. JP Morgan hiked its rating to overweight as analysts think Anglo now offers “an attractive commodity mix” as risks about the sector begin to wane. Fraser Jamieson, of JP Morgan Cazenove, said: “We have seen several of the crucial issues that in our view justified a valuation discount dissipating”. The longstanding bear’s investment thesis focused on balance sheet risk. However, recoveries in copper, platinum, coal and diamond markets have reduced these risks. As a result, the investment bank thinks Anglo could beat consensus forecasts when it publishes its half year results and the sale of its Queensland coal mine could further bolster the balance sheet. JP Morgan also believes half-year results will be a positive catalyst for Anglo’s peers, Rio Tinto and Glencore, and will offer miners a platform to execute further asset disposals. London-listed miners are also beneficiaries of the weak pound post-Brexit, the bank said, given cash flows and dividends are denominated in US dollar. In its wake, it sees earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation growing by 35pc for Anglo American, 39pc for Rio Tinto and some 12pc for Glencore. Despite hiking Anglo’s rating, JP Morgan reminded investors that Rio Tinto is its “most preferred stock”, as it has an attractive valuation, the highest dividend yield and the safest balance sheet across the sector. Shares in Anglo American jumped 31.2p, or 3.8pc, to 843.4p, Rio Rinto advanced 30p to £24.91, BHP Billiton climbed 5.8p to £10.04 and Antofagasta added 1p to close at 505p.
Anglo American (AAL.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Glencore (GLEN.L), Fresnilo (FRES.L), Rio-Tinto (RIO.L), Vedanta Resources (VED.L) – Early morning macro data print showed China's economy expanded slightly faster than expected in Q2 but private investment growth shrank to a record low, suggesting future weakness which could pressure the government to roll out more support measures / stimulus. Closing prices 843.40p, 505.00p, 1003.50p, 186.65p, 1907.00p, 2490.50p, 530.50p (Reuters)
I was losing so much that I bought a pile more at 2.48, where I was annoyed then that I missed the 2.20-ish or whatever it was at end of January. I averaged down BIG time & boy am I glad I did now...it was a crazy thing to do at the time though!
I trade the FTSE every day where I been a LONG for the last 2 weeks etc. Allot of people do not understand why the FTSE keeps on rising yet the BOE may be cutting rates again so the economy is not doing as good as carney wants us to believe. I am a TA chartist, & fully convinced the technical is more reliable than fundamentals of world news. Both FTSE & AAL charts have / are looking very good so that's all the facts I need to know! People are analysing politics rather than reading the charts. People will disagree & have been going SHORT.....need I say anymore.