JSE may follow Asian stocks higher

In contrast to Absa, which reported flat earnings on Monday, Nedbank is expected to show strong growth thanks to pan-African associate Ecobank returning to profitability.

Nedbank said in a trading statement on July 26 it expected to report on Tuesday its basic and headline earnings per share (HEPS) grew between 23% and 28%.

It also benefited from its various divisions delivering “positive earnings growth in line with our expectations”.

The Reserve Bank will release July’s foreign exchange reserve figures at 8am, which are expected to have remained at about June’s $50.6bn.

Statistics SA is scheduled to release June’s manufacturing production and sales figures at 1pm.

The Absa-sponsored manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 47.9 points in June from 49.8 points in May, indicating Stats SA’s manufacturing report for the last month of the second quarter may also show a decline from the previous month.

Compared with a year earlier, however, output is expected to have risen, with Investec putting the increase at 1.8%.

Source: businesslive.co.za