RC 260819SAfm
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Markets swung sharply on a US Treasury bond-buyback announcement, while the show also unpacked DRD Gold’s bumper results, SADC industrialisation, AGOA’s extension and the Balwin deal.
- 18:10
US Treasury bond-buyback plans drove a sharp drop in long-dated yields, a weaker dollar and a surge in gold, silver and platinum; the JSE rose almost 2.5% as miners jumped.
- 18:18
DRD Gold said full-year operating profit nearly doubled, revenue rose about 50% and the final dividend topped R1 billion, after gold prices and cost control lifted cash to R2.7 billion.
- 18:22
The company’s reinvestment programme is meant to extend mine life and lift throughput by about 40% by 2029; management said the gold price turned what was expected to be net debt into strong cash.
- 18:29
SADC leaders were said to have put industrialisation and beneficiation at the centre of the Durban summit, with South Africa’s chairmanship focused on pooling procurement and growing regional trade.
- 18:35
The Senate’s two-year AGOA extension was welcomed as a positive but limited step for South Africa-U.S. ties, with the agreement still needing House approval and broader tariff tensions unresolved.