adminWorries about global growth, the prolonged trade war and a moribund local economy have stopped South African stocks in their tracks.
After posting back-to-back quarterly gains, a feat not achieved since 2017, Johannesburg’s benchmark index is down 5 percent since the end of June as of Friday. That leaves it set for the worst third-quarter performance in nine years.
The property and construction sectors have been among the hardest-hit. But the malaise extends from technology to telecommunications, retailers, agriculture, education and financial services, as companies contend with unemployment of 29 percent, weak business confidence and an economy in its longest downward cycle since 1945. Platinum miners and gold producers have delivered the flip side to this picture, shining during the quarter as investors swarmed to the haven appeal of precious metals in uncertain times. The blockbuster event of the quarter was the carve out by Naspers, the market’s largest stock, of its $120 billion internet unit Prosus for a listing in Amsterdam. — Bloomberg.
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