WM Market Update – January 2016
Global – Year of the Monkey?
2016 saw a turbulent start to the year on the back of extreme volatility in Chinese markets together with renewed downward pressure on the oil price as a result of oversupply. These two factors saw global stockmarkets posting significant negative returns with the MSCI World Index down -6.05% and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index down -6.22% in dollar terms.
Domestic – Commodities crunch
Global emerging markets did not escape the holocaust with a risk-off sentiment prevailing throughout the month. The safe haven status of the gold mining sector being the one exception returning 34.90% for the month. The JSE/ALSI closed down- 3.06% whilst the Top40 declined -3.75%. Not unexpectedly the RES120 lost -4.51% as commodity prices continued their decline. Platinum and Precious Metals recovered some of last month’s losses gaining 17.67%. As the yield curve flattened, the All Bond Index gained 4.62%. The long dated 12+ maturity sector returned 5.83% while the 7-12 year maturity gained 4.42%. Inflation Linked Bonds returned 0.81% while cash returned 0.52%.
