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Significant changes occurred in the prices of gold and silver on the first working day of the week, Monday. A sharp drop was observed in the futures price of silver on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), which decreased to 2.44 thousand rubles per kilogram after opening.

Observing the dynamics of silver prices on the MCX on the first working day, it became clear that the futures price dropped to 244,815 rubles per kilogram at the start of trading for the September 4 expiration. Meanwhile, at the end of the previous week, on Friday, the price was 246,597 rubles per kilogram, indicating a decrease in the cost of silver by 1,782 rubles per 1 kg.

The current decline has made silver significantly cheaper than its historical high. In January of this year, the price of silver exceeded the 400 thousand rubles per kilogram mark for the first time, reaching a peak of 420,048 rubles per kilogram on the futures market. Currently, silver is available 175,233 rubles cheaper.

Parallel to the fall in silver prices, the price of gold increased on the MCX. Last Friday, the futures price for 10 grams of 24-carat gold closed at 162,438 rubles, but on Monday, immediately after trading began, the price rose to 163,116 rubles. Thus, gold increased in price by 678 rubles for every 10 grams.

A substantial increase in the value of gold was also noted in August. Comparing the price of 10 grams of 24-carat gold, which closed on July 31 at 143,376 rubles, with the opening of trading on Monday at 163,116 rubles, the cost of the yellow metal increased by 19,740 rubles.

Many people postpone starting to invest due to the thought of needing to accumulate a large sum. Radhika Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, emphasizes that there is no single fixed amount required for retirement. The main question is how much money will be needed to maintain one's lifestyle after stopping work.

At the India Today Woman Summit 2026, Radhika Gupta noted that retirement planning often features large figures, such as 1, 5, 10, or 40 million rupees. These large sums can negatively affect some people, causing them to avoid starting investments if they believe achieving such a goal is impossible.

According to Radhika Gupta, before determining the capital for retirement, it is crucial to understand what your expenses will be after leaving your job. This depends on your lifestyle, place of residence, existing assets, and home condition. People in their 40s or 50s should calculate what expenses will remain unchanged if regular income from work ceases. If a person owns their home without a mortgage, other necessary expenses can be estimated by excluding housing costs.

It is not enough to simply set a retirement goal based on current expenses. These expenses must be projected into the future, including inflation and changes in lifestyle and needs over time. Thus, there cannot be a universal fixed amount for retirement; your goal must be determined based on future expenditure needs.

Radhika Gupta provided examples showing that the financial needs of a person living in a home in Mumbai differ from those of a person renting in a small town. Similarly, obligations to children also influence retirement capital. She stated that for a person owning a home in Mumbai, a capital of approximately 5 to 7 million rupees is sufficient. Meanwhile, for a person living in Delhi who has fully paid off their mortgage but whose children have not yet started working, a portfolio of 7 to 8 million rupees by age 60 could provide a better situation.

Even if the retirement capital amounts to millions, you do not necessarily have to start investing with a large sum. Radhika Gupta reported that mutual fund investments can begin with as little as 100 rupees. She linked investing to discipline and habit, noting that people sometimes spend more on snacks while watching movies than on investments. Her message is clear: the start of investing is more important than the amount.

For young investors, Radhika Gupta highlighted the 10-30-50 framework. According to this principle, at age 20, one should aim to invest about 10 percent of the income remaining after covering all expenses. The goal is to increase this share to 30 percent by age 30 and to 50 percent by age 40. This aims to build the habit of investing at an early age and increasing the investment amount as income grows. However, since everyone's income, obligations, and financial situation differ, this framework should be considered individually.

Young investors should not give up on starting to invest just because of huge figures like 40 million rupees. First, you need to understand your current expenses, account for future inflation, and then determine a goal using a retirement calculator. The retirement goal can change along with your life. It is important to regularly review investment targets in line with changes in income, expenses, family responsibilities, and lifestyle. Before making any decision about investing or trading, it is recommended to consult a qualified financial advisor based on your financial situation.

MTN South Africa has shed approximately 1.5 million prepaid consumers since the beginning of the year, leading to a reduction in the overall subscriber base. The company continues its targeted effort to reduce the number of users reliant on borrowed talk time.

The prepaid customer base decreased from 29.7 million at the end of December to 29.3 million by the end of March, and then to 28.2 million by the end of June, representing a 4.5% year-on-year decline. These losses reduced MTN South Africa's total base by 0.7%, bringing it to 39.5 million. It is worth noting that this base had shown growth of 3% in the first quarter.

MTN attributes this drop to 'negative net additions in the prepaid market, as the focus shifts to improving the quality of the base.' Voice revenue fell by 10.2% over the six months ending in June, a sharper pace than the 9.6% in the first quarter, indicating a worsening situation in the second quarter. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter where voice revenue has declined in MTN's domestic market, with the rate of decline increasing in each reporting period.

Service revenue grew by 1.5% to R21.9 billion, remaining below the low-to-mid single-digit target range that the group confirmed as a medium-term goal for this division. Total revenue decreased by 1.6% to R24.8 billion, while device sales dropped by about one-fifth, amounting to R2.9 billion by segment figures.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 7.6% to R8.5 billion, and the margin shrank by 2.3 percentage points to 34.2%, which is below MTN's stated range of 35–37%. Excluding the impact of the MTN group's share price on the South African employee participation scheme reserve, EBITDA fell by 3.8%, and the margin stood at 37.1%, which is 0.8 percentage points lower.

Healthier Business

Currently, South Africa generates 19% of the group's service revenue but only 15.2% of the group's EBITDA. MTN's position is that customer attrition leads to a healthier business. The company is scaling back the XtraTime program, which provides prepaid customers with talk time and data, redirecting them instead to top up with money.

According to its own data, this is yielding results. Talk time loan repayment rates improved from approximately 50% in October 2025 to 70% currently, resulting in a significantly smaller volume of outstanding amounts. Overall cash top-up remained relatively stable, but excluding talk time loan repayments, it grew by 9.4%. Prepaid data revenue increased by 4.4%, accelerating to 5% in the second quarter compared to 3.8% in the first, and prepaid data consumption rose by 23.6%, reaching 4.9 GB per subscriber.

Prepaid service revenue declined by 3.3%, matching the first quarter level and representing an improvement compared to the 3.8% drop in the fourth quarter of 2025. However, costs are reflected in other areas. Fintech segment revenue, including XtraTime, fell by 16.3% to R701 million. Digital service revenue decreased by 7.5% due to weakened prepaid top-up activity.

The decline in voice revenue is harder to fix than prepaid because it is not primarily related to pricing. Capitec Connect, operating on the Cell C wholesale network, cancelled inter-SIM call charges in April and processed 768 million minutes of voice traffic in the year leading up to February, which is 150% more. It sells banking relationships, not minutes, and there is no tariff below free.

MTN links its voice revenue decline to customer migration from out-of-bundle usage towards bundled offers and pure data traffic, as well as the adoption of VoIP and digital messaging. The company noted that this shift was observed in both the prepaid and postpaid segments. The rest of the business remained resilient: postpaid consumer service revenue grew by 4.9%, and the postpaid base increased by 9.1%, reaching 4.8 million, supported by the price increases introduced in February. Corporate segment revenue grew by 5.8%, and wholesale revenue grew by 13.7%, a noticeable improvement compared to 6.9% in the first quarter.

The growth in the wholesale segment is driven by national and international roaming, as well as fixed and mobile traffic, partially offset by the decrease in Telkom's national roaming revenue due to reduced traffic volumes and a lower mobile termination rate of 2 cents/minute, effective in July 2025. Data revenue grew by 4%, reaching R10.9 billion, while network traffic increased by 27.7%, and average usage in the postpaid segment rose by 32% to 32.3 GB per month.

MTN blames the decrease in prepaid customer purchasing power on higher fuel costs, increased interest rates following the Reserve Bank's repo rate hike to 7% in May, and 'localized civil unrest.' Meanwhile, South Africa's figures stand out against the group's overall performance, which increased service revenue by 17.5% in constant currency to R115.3 billion and expanded the EBITDA margin by 3.1 percentage points to 47.6%.