News 08:00

BULLETIN 31 May 8 am
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# The Rand and JSE slump as the election results trickle in
# Helen Zille says coalition talks are premature
# And tennis: Djokovic books his 19th consecutive third round at Roland Garros

# The rand and the JSE fell yesterday, as results from the elections continued to trickle in. The currency dropped as much as 1.1-percent against the dollar to trade at around 18-rand-59-cents. The JSE Africa All Share fell as much as 2.3-percent yesterday. Momentum Investments economist, Sanisha Packirisamy, says if the outcome of the elections means the ANC is forced to take on a larger coalition partner to secure the majority, then the weakness of the rand could extend for a longer period.

And with just over 50-percent of the votes counted, the ANC remains in the lead nationally at 42.34-percent. The DA is currently second at 23.39-percent and the MK Party at 10.77-percent. In Gauteng, the ANC leads with 33.21-percent followed by the DA at 29.31-percent and the EFF at 12.84-percent. In the hotly contested KwaZulu-Natal, MK is at 44.86-percent, the ANC second with 18.94-percent and the IFP at 17.42-percent. In the Western Cape, the DA leads with 54.63-percent of the votes followed by the ANC at 18.83-percent and the Patriotic Alliance at 9.32-percent.

Meanwhile DA Federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, says coalition talks are premature as parties await the final election results. She believes if the ANC falls below 50-percent of the vote, it will never recover. Zille asserts the DA will not allow South Africa to be governed by an ANC, EFF, and MK party coalition, highlighting the challenges of working with smaller parties. She is also confident the DA will retain control of the Western Cape:

# Several of the US’ allies are urging president Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to use weapons supplied by the West to strike Russian territory. This follows after US secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Nato counterparts his country’s policy on the issue hasn’t changed. French president Emmanuel Macron said this week Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons against Russian military sites, but strictly not on civilian targets. Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier warned of serious consequences, especially for small European countries.

# Tennis: Defending champion Novak Djokovic beat Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, to move into the third round of the French Open. The Serb has now reached the last 32 at the clay-court Grand Slam for the 19th consecutive year, as he aims for a record-extending 25th major title. Italian Lorenzo Musetti defeated home hope Gael Monfils in straight sets, while there were also victories for Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Norway’s Holger Rune. Djokovic says he believes he can still win Grand Slams:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-74-cents and the euro at 20-rand-29-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-86-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-481-dollars-14-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-339-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….