November 2023 Update
Making The News
MSCI World rallied strongly (+9,4% in USD) in November, reversing losses compounded over the three prior months. Reasons for the rally include softer messaging from the US Federal Reserve in their November meeting (i.e., rate pauses for 2 consecutive meetings) and the most recent US inflation data cooling more than anticipated (i.e., 3.2% YoY from its peak in 2022 of 9.2% YoY).
The FTSE/JSE All Share Index participated in the global stock rally, also recouping most of the losses incurred in the three months leading up to November. Naspers & Prosus were among the biggest winners on the JSE last month (+19% in aggregate, lifted higher by the performance of their largest investment, Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent (+14%). Tencent defied a generally tough environment for Chinese shares as it reported better-than-expected results, highlighting a renewed focus on profitability and the quality of revenue growth. Lastly, despite headline inflation soaring to 5.9%, core inflation dropped below the SARB’s target mid-point (4.5%) and proved enough to convince the SARB to hold rates steady at 8.25% for the third consecutive meeting.