The fund changed sectors from South African--Equity--General to South African--Equity--SA General on 30 Sep 2024. Effective on the 1st of Octobter 2024

Fund review

The last quarterly index review saw no changes to the index. The fund benefited from its exposure to Fortress Real Estate Investment B, MultiChoice Group and Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd which were the top three performers, with Fortress Real Estate Investment B returning 42.89% over the quarter. However, its exposure to Montauk Renewables Inc, The SPAR Group Ltd and Remgro Ltd detracted from performance over the quarter, as these were the three worst performers in the fund. Montauk Renewables Inc Ltd returned -53.69% over the quarter.

Market overview

In the first quarter of 2024, global markets were quite resilient despite the unchanged interest rates in major economies. The US labour market remained strong over the first quarter but poses challenges from a monetary policy perspective. Major central banks globally have not yet cut interest rates, which might be due to the delay by the US Federal Reserve (Fed). Over the first quarter of 2024, MSCI EM increased by 2.2% and MSCI World by 3.0% both outperforming MSCI EMEA which had a fall of 0.6%. Global equity performed well, driven by technology and communication services.

In South Africa, there remains persistent challenges within the macroeconomic environment hindering economic growth, mainly due to continuous electricity outages and supply side challenges related to the failing railway and ports infrastructure, which provided little relief to the SA inflation rate remaining towards the upper end of the 3% to 6% target range. At the last MPC meeting, the Governor emphasised anchoring inflation to 4.5% and was aligned to market expectations of keeping interest rates unchanged. Local equities were up over the first quarter with the FTSE/JSE Top 40 up 3.85% and the FTSE/JSE Capped SWIX up 2.9%. The ALBI declined by 1.9% whilst the rand strengthened to 18.80 against the USD over the quarter.