As we watch the rand deliver a more volatile performance than your favourite sports team in a rough season, it's tough to make sense of it all. Thankfully, the team from TreasuryONE keeps us updated every day in Ghost Mail and they host regular webinars where you get the opportunity to ask questions to the experts. One such webinar was held for clients on Friday, with the recording made available here.

There's another chance if you're quick, with Ghost Mail readers invited to a webinar on the rand this Thursday at 9am. Register here and bring your questions!

Speaking of webinars, I recently hosted a biz val webinar along with my co-founder Graham Stephen and special guests from Syft Analytics. We talked about the approach to valuations and the importance of financial data in valuations. There was a vibrant Q&A session at the end, as always. Find the recording here>>>

And before we dive into yesterday's news on the JSE, remember that you can stay on top of the most interesting recent JSE stories by listening to the Ghost Wrap podcast. Designed by a busy ghost for busy people, this podcast brings you my views on a number of updates in one shot. Best of all, you need less than 9 minutes to get through it all! Brought to you by Mazars, the latest episode covers Karooooo, Quantum Foods, RFG Holdings, Sappi, MTN, Southern Sun, Richemont and Transaction Capital. Find it here>>>

Dishing out a KAP

If ever you wanted a good example of the pain being inflicted by our beloved Eskom on the "real" economy of South Africa, look no further than KAP. The industrials group has seen its share price fade away this year as the impact of our macroeconomic troubles were priced into the stock. With the release of latest results, we can see how tough it is out there to even achieve a flat performance, let alone anything that hints at economic growth.

We also saw all-important numbers come in from Vodacom, where the dividend payout policy has changed and so the dividend has dropped far more sharply than the earnings. South African growth is anaemic at best, with Vodacom's ambitions in East and North Africa as the focus for many investors.

For evidence of our resilience as South Africans though, you can look at the updates from Dis-Chem or Raubex. You can read about Pan African Resources and the extensive investment in solar PV projects. You can certainly take a look at Calgro M3's numbers, or Altron's if you're willing to accept the adjusted profits they put forward. To end off a busy day, there were also updates from Dipula Income Fund and Stefanutti Stocks.

Get the latest on all these companies by reading Ghost Bites this morning>>>

And if you're keen to get a sense of companies that are paying dividends, check out this weekly update from EasyEquities on the companies that will make the bank accounts of investors look a little brighter in the next week or so.

Can the rand break back below R19.00?

After huge moves last week, the rand started to stabilise a little. After briefly breaking below R19.00 to the US dollar, we traded sideways between R19.03 and R19.12 for most of the day. TreasuryONE notes that a few days of no news would probably be good news, as the rand may move back below R19.00 in that scenario.

With a thin data calendar this week, the direction of the rand is likely to be driven by headlines rather than data.

Five with Trive - only on Magic Markets

Alexander Weiss of Trive South Africa was our guest on the latest episode of Magic Markets. The talented young analyst walked us through five companies that he believes are at the forefront of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) theme. Get the details here>>>

Have a productive day!