Developed market equities suffered through the month. As the threat of tariffs become more tangible and geopolitical tensions around the Ukraine Russia war, investors’ jitters got the better of them and markets fell. On top of this, America’s tech sector has struggled to keep investors satisfied, as good news from quarterly reporting has not been good enough. The rise of Eastern tech has shifted focus, and money, away from the US tech sector. The surge in Chinese tech stocks, as well as Alibaba’s phenomenal results and the local government’s stated support of the private sector were all positive tailwinds for emerging market equities.
South Africa’s equity markets also benefitted from the inflows into China, as Naspers and Prosus drove markets higher. Resources fell, dragged lower by platinum stocks. Local bonds struggled to get off the ground as the postponement of the Budget Speech highlighted the fiscal risk inherent in South Africa.
- The JSE All Share traded flat over February, down 0.0%.
- Resources (down 7.1%) reported a hard fall from January, while Industrials (up 2.8%) continued to climb, and Financials (up 1.0%) gained slightly.
- Small-caps (down 2.3%), and Mid-caps (down 4.2%) dropped, while Large-caps (up 1.0%) ended comfortably in positive territory.
- Property had a volatile month, as the S&P SA REIT sector (up 1.5%) gained, and the SA Listed Property sector (down 0.3%) ended slightly lower.
- SA Nominal Bonds (up 0.1%) crept higher over the month, as Inflation-Linked Bonds increased, up 0.9%.
- Emerging Market equities outperformed the Developed Market Equities in US Dollar terms. The MSCI World Index dropped 0.7% and the MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 0.5%.
- The rand had a mixed month, swayed more by the relative strength of larger currencies over any domestic developments. Relative to the U.S. Dollar (Rand appreciated 0.5%), the Euro (Rand appreciated 0.5%) and the Pound Sterling (Rand depreciated 0.8%).
- Commodity prices were mixed, as Gold rose 0.9%, Platinum tumbled 9.8%, and Brent Crude fell by 4.7%.
Source: Factset
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