In October, equity markets performed well as worries surrounding trade wars started to ease while central banks globally continued to stimulate the economy through accommodative monetary policy. The risk-on trade saw Emerging Market equities outperform for the month while Tito Mboweni’s Medium-Term Budget Speech reflected a worse than expected fiscal state which lead to a selloff in local bonds.
The JSE All Share Index (up 3.1%) performed well in October lead by Resource stocks (up 7.3%). SA Financial stocks (up 3.6%) performed well while Industrial stocks (up 0.3%) managed slightly positive returns. Mid-cap shares (up 7.2%) outperformed this month followed by Large-cap shares (up 3.0%) while Small-cap shares (up 1.7%) lagged slightly.
The MSCI World Index ended the month up 2.6% in US Dollar terms. Emerging Market equities managed to outperform their Developed Market peers for the first time since January as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index ended the month up 4.2% in US Dollar terms.
Both the South African Listed Property sector (up 1.9%) and the SA REITs sector (up 0.9%) managed positive returns in October.
The Rand appreciated slightly (0.7%) against the US Dollar while depreciating 1.7% against the Euro and 4.3% against the Pound Sterling.
The US Dollar Gold price increased by 3.1% this month while the Brent Crude Oil Price decreased slightly (0.9%) US Dollar and the US Dollar Platinum Price gained 5.3%.
