Global News:
- In the US, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the President on, Friday, 20 January 2017.
- In China, import growth gained 3.1% year-on-year indicating healthy Chinese consumption, but export growth fell by -6.1% year-on-year.
- The CSI 300 Index, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock index, was down -0.9% for the week and the Japanese Nikkei Index fell -1.07%. Both of these indexes have been fairly flat year-to-date.
- The MSCI Emerging Market Index returned 11.6% in US dollar terms in 2016 and is up 3.9% so far in 2017 – making a recovery from the downturn it experienced when Donald Trump won the Presidency.
- So far in 2017, the MSCI World Index has gained 2.1% – trading at its highest level in dollar terms since July 2015.
Local News:
- The rand started 2017 strong, trading at 13.688 to the US dollar on, Monday, 16 January 2016.
- The FTSE/JSE All Share Index (ALSI) is also doing well in 2017, having returned 5.5% so far.
- Local bonds had a similarly strong start to the year, with yields on the R186 down from 8.9% on 1 January to now trade at 8.65%.
- A recap of the 2016 South African asset class returns: All Bond Index 15.5%, SA Listed Property 10.2%, Cash 7.4% and the ALSI 2.6%.
- In the most commonly reported currency, the US dollar, the ALSI returned 15.9% over 2016, beating the S&P 500 Index’s record high of 12%, the Nasdaq returned 7.3%, the Nikkei 5.9%, the German Dax 4.2%, the MSCI World Index 8.2%, and the MSCI Emerging Market Index which returned 11.6%.
- Last year, the JSE Mid Cap Index returned 27.6%, and the Small Cap Index returned 21.1%. The Top 40 had a negative return of -1.5%, as did the Financial and Industrial Index -2.9%.
- The ALSI was assisted by the 34.4% return gained from the Resource Index, and 56.6% from the JSE Mining Index.
- The Iron Ore price alone have soared by 44% since the end of September, and the copper price has gained 25% since, 24 October 2016.
Source: Dynasty, Stanlib, Efficient Select, Prescient, Moneyweb & Bloomberg Markets etc.
