Sasol slips, despite oil heading for biggest weekly gain in months
Sasol’s shares have slipped more than 3% this week, even as the rand weakened and Brent oil headed for its biggest weekly gain since mid-February.
Shares in the synthetic fuels maker were 2% down at R424.22 on Friday afternoon, extending losses for the week to 3.6%.
Oil, on the other hand, was rallying on growing geopolitical risks.
DaMina Advisors said in a note on Thursday that oil was set for a “gradual structural climb in prices as the market lets go of the idea that there will be substantial workarounds to sanctions on Iranian oil”.
Saudi Arabia was not likely to completely offset lost volumes from Iran, the research firm said, and “a significant risk exists of major military escalation in the Persian Gulf”.
“The threat of war in the Middle East could impact significantly on oil supply and thus the price of the liquid gold,” Bianca Botes, corporate treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, said on Friday.
Besides the tailwind from oil, the rand’s slight decline versus the dollar during the week would also have aided Sasol, which operates in SA, the US, Europe and China.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that oil was advancing as oil cartel Opec and its allies gather this weekend to consider output policy and political tension in the Persian Gulf escalate.
Futures have added 3.5% in London this week.
Brent for July settlement rose 46c to $73.08 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange on Friday after closing 1.2% higher on Thursday. It is up 3.5% so far this week, the largest gain since February 15.
With Bloomberg
Source: businesslive.co.za
