Harmony is the latest mining company to flag a strong rise in earnings, thanks largely to a big increase in the price of gold last year. It releases interim results tomorrow, coinciding with the launch of our new Share360 initiative.

With AngloGold Ashanti, Amplats and Implats also due to report this week, Share360's focus will be on the mining sector as we try to give you a complete view of the markets, sharing all the latest news that can affect share prices and your investments. Share360 is part of our endeavour at InceConnect to provide you with a forum where you can also share your views.

While mining companies have been supported by higher prices over the past year, a number of other sectors have had little to cushion them from the impact of Covid-19. Massmart plans to close or sell more of its Masscash stores after losing out on R6 billion in sales due to lockdown restrictions. Absa will report a sharp decline in annual earnings, partly due to higher credit loss provisions. And Santam's underwriting margins have come under pressure as a result of claims from customers whose businesses were affected by the lockdown.

Also today, Bidcorp's businesses in the UK and Europe have been impacted by the second wave of the pandemic. But Steinhoff's European subsidiary Pepco Group has still managed to grow sales.

In Episode 13 of the highly-rated Magic Markets podcast, The Finance Ghost and Mohammed Nalla (Moe-Knows), pit Disney against Netflix and debate which business is the better investment. They also throw out a third option as a curveball. It's free and well worth watching.

Finally, in The Week Ahead, Chris Gilmour reviews some of the factors that influenced global markets last week and lists some of the results and economic data to watch out for in the days ahead.

I hope you have a good week.

Stephen Gunnion

Managing Editor, InceConnect

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