Fund review:

The review of the S&P South Africa Sovereign Bond 1+ Year Index (SPFIZAA) in Q4 2022 saw no changes to the index. The fund performed in line with the Index. The R186 Government bond remained the largest bond in the fund and its yield decreased from 9.44% to 8.75% and its modified duration decreased from 3.29 to 3.22 over the quarter. The fund’s yield decreased from 11.16% to 10.68% and its modified duration decreased from 6.13 to 6.06 over the quarter.

Market overview:

December 2022 closed off a year of losses with the global equity indices in the red for the 8th consecutive month. For the most part of the year, global monetary policies tightened, but Q4 2022 saw resilience in equity markets where the MSCI World returned 9.77%, the MSCI EM at 9.70%, and the MSCI EMEA Index rose 5.51%. Despite a spike in Covid cases, China announced its intention to abandon the zero-Covid policy and began reopening the economy, spurring hopes for renewed manufacturing activity from one of the world’s largest economies.

In South Africa, the effects of loadshedding continued to weigh on the productivity of South Africans, especially small businesses and households. This was exacerbated by the resignation of Eskom’s CEO, unsettling confidence of an abating of instabilities in the entity’s management. In Q4 2022, local indices showed encouraging performance, with the Top 40 returning 17.11%, All Share at 15.16% and the Capped SWIX gaining 12.22%.

Looking at the fixed income and currency markets, the ALBI gained 5.68%, while the STeFI returned 1.57% but the ZAR strengthened by 5.80% relative to the USD.