{"id":459754,"date":"2021-01-09T10:15:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-09T08:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=459754"},"modified":"2021-01-09T10:15:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T08:15:23","slug":"south-african-stocks-at-record-in-best-start-to-the-year-since-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/459754\/south-african-stocks-at-record-in-best-start-to-the-year-since-1999\/","title":{"rendered":"South African stocks at record in best start to the year since 1999"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s main stock index rose for a fifth day and headed for a third consecutive record close, with banks rallying as optimism over a global economic rebound fueled appetite for riskier assets.<\/p>\n

Local market giant Naspers Ltd. added impetus to the advance, rebounding from Thursday\u2019s losses as global technology shares rose.<\/p>\n

The FTSE\/JSE Africa All Share Index advanced 1% as of 4:07 p.m. in Johannesburg, extending its gains this week to more than 7%, the best performance over the first five trading sessions of the year since 1999.<\/p>\n

The gauge has also outpaced the advance in MSCI Inc.\u2019s index of emerging-market stocks, which is up 4.2% this week and reached a record high on Friday.<\/p>\n

South African shares have climbed 68% from the pandemic-selloff low plumbed last March, and the recent rapid ascent has pushed the 14-day relative strength index on the gauge to almost 80, the highest since 2017.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s well beyond the level of 70 viewed by some technical analysts as a signal that the gains may be overdone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Investors are piling into assets that win in an improving economic cycle, with ultra-loose monetary polices and hopes of more stimulus spending under US President-elect Joe Biden adding fuel to these bets in a so-called reflation trade.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s rand was the best-performing emerging-market currency against the dollar Friday, helping to drive gains in bank stocks.<\/p>\n

An index of local lenders surged 3.5%, adding to Thursday\u2019s 3.1% increase. FirstRand Ltd. rose 4.5% and Standard Bank Group Ltd. added 3.9%, with the two stocks among the biggest drivers of the overall market strength.<\/p>\n

Sasol Ltd. was prominent among gainers, climbing 4.1% with\u00a0Brent oil\u00a0topping $55 a barrel for the first time since February as Saudi Arabia\u2019s unilateral output cut eased over-supply fears and amid the optimism on US stimulus spending. Sasol\u2019s 25% New Year surge makes it the best-performing Johannesburg stock early in 2021.<\/p>\n

Tech investor Naspers contributed the most index points to the benchmark Friday, rising 1.3% to reverse some of Thursday\u2019s 2.8% slump, as partly owned Chinese online giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. climbed 0.8% in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Imperial Logistics Ltd. jumped as much as 10%, the most in seven months, benefiting from investors\u2019 more upbeat outlook on the economy.<\/p>\n

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. rallied for a fourth day, jumping as much as 5.4% to a four-month high. The company has agreed to manufacture doses of Johnson & Johnson\u2019s coronavirus\u00a0vaccine candidate\u00a0in South Africa if it gains regulatory approval.<\/p>\n

Gold stocks underperformed as demand for bullion as a haven waned. An index of miners of the precious metal retreated for a third day, falling 1.2%. AngloAshanti Ltd. slid 1% and Gold Fields Ltd. dropped 1.1%.<\/p>\n

\n

Read: Government to look at basic income grant for South Africa: Ramaphosa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s main stock index rose for a fifth day and headed for a third consecutive record close, with banks rallying as optimism over a global economic rebound fueled appetite for riskier assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":293562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-459754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459760,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459754\/revisions\/459760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}