| Sasol didn't get the response it may have expected from the much anticipated sale of a stake in its Lake Charles Chemicals Project in the US. It's getting $2 billion for the disposal of 50% of the project's base chemicals business to LyondellBasell. But it appears that the market believes the Netherlands-headquartered business is getting the better deal, sending its shares 6% higher while Sasol's fell 3.4%. That may also have been because a rights offer of up to $2 billion is still on the cards as the energy and chemicals group pays down debt that has reached worrying levels. While Sasol's decline didn't help the local market on Friday, neither did news that US President Donald Trump contracted Covid-19 just a month before the presidential election, which sent global equities and other risky assets lower. With volatility likely to be a feature for the markets for some time to come, Rand Swiss wealth manager Viv Govender explains portfolio risk and offers you the opportunity to get a free risk report. One way to manage current market risk is through the solid research offered by our partners at Ingham Analytics. You can find out more about their introductory special offer by following this link. Finally, Baker McKenzie's Wildu du Plessis and Tanya Seitz discuss the growing trend of attractively-priced JSE companies being taken private and delisted - partly due to the current tough environment for corporates. I hope you have a good week. Stephen Gunnion Managing Editor, InceConnect
The latest from Ingham Analytics Market psychology has been odd. Securities that were pricey but not overly so in January are now substantially more expensive. The note entitled "Outsized Big Five" refers to the big five US tech stocks, but the analogy is as apt in bond and credit markets, which is discussed as there is a transmission mechanism at work. Those five stocks collectively have a market value of $7 trillion - larger than any other single country stock market by quite a distance. There is a parallel with Prosus and Naspers, a topic assessed in the note "Ant(icipating) a listing" which referred to the upcoming initial public offering of Ant Group. Tencent's WeChat Pay is a smaller but considerable competitor to Ant's Alipay. With gold above $1,900/oz "All that glitters?" will be of interest for gold bugs whilst "Uh-ho!" gives some useful tips on the risk-on, risk-off cycle over in the US. | 