February 11, 2025

In-depth market commentary – making sense of a shifting landscape Over the quarter: Local equities ended the quarter -2.14% in the red pulling down the 2024 full-year return to +13.4%.  The Financials sector declined -1.8%, while Industrials posted a modest gain of +0.2% over the 3 months.  The Resources sector was the largest detractor, down -10.1% over the quarter and -7.2% over the year.  The local property sector shed -0.8% for the quarter, though its performance for the year remained strong at +29.0%, making it the best-performing local asset class of the year. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) continued its rate-cutting cycle during the quarter, reducing the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75%, a move that was largely in line with market expectations.  The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose... Read More

Gary Mockler Group Chief Executive Officer _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Several interactions with GTC clients over the past few months prompts me to write this.  By now you’ll be familiar with my requirement that every article posted in the Trendline should meet the definition of ‘advice’.  Any reader of any article should walk away from this exercise with at least a reminder as to how to go about some aspect of their financial planning. Two of the examples of client engagements that I have recently been through, emanate from clients questioning whether they have received accurate and professional advice.  I write this not in defense, but rather in the realisation that instances such as this will occur again in the future. In the first instance, a long-standing client with a long-standing relationship with the GTC team had a living annuity that nominated his... Read More