Ninety One Weekly Wrap - 28 November 2022

Congratulations to the Springboks for a comprehensive win on Saturday against England at Twickenham. A reminder of the tenacity of this nation always finding a way to fight adversity just when the chips are down!

Many South Africans took advantage of Black Friday buying their favourite items which included toilet paper, air fryers and dishwasher blocks at discount prices. By comparison, markets were certainly not on sale last week and continued heading upwards despite ongoing volatility. Reflecting this best was the JSE All Share up another 0.8% for the week and 11.2% for the month which now takes the index to a positive 3.6% year to date.

More good news was also provided on Friday when ratings agency Fitch maintained its SA rating at BB- with “stable” outlook, while S&P boosted its outlook on Eskom from “negative” to “stable”. Dampening this good news story was the SARB that hiked interest rates by 0.75%, as expected, to take the repo rate to 7%. This is above the level prevailing before the start of the pandemic and the 8th hike in the cycle with a total adjustment of 3.5% since the first hike in November 2021.

Globally, the eagerly awaited minutes from the Fed’s November meeting showed officials were largely satisfied that they could now move in smaller steps in terms of future rate hikes. This news along with cooler than expected US inflation data, has sent the dollar index down 5% for November and on track for its worst monthly performance in 12 years.