JSE Ends Lower as Study Flags Long-Term Delistings and Retirement Withdrawals Climb
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended last week on a softer footing, with mining counters weighing on the broader market even as selected industrial and consumer shares posted gains.
The FTSE/JSE All Share Index closed 0.45% lower at 110,070 points, retreating from the previous close of 110,572. The market opened at 110,782 and traded in a broad range during the session before losing ground late in the day.
The pullback came largely from the resources sector, where a slight easing in precious-metal prices pressured major mining shares. Industrial and financial stocks also finished marginally weaker, although gains in selected counters, including technology and consumer companies, helped limit the decline.
Elsewhere in the news, research from the University of Cape Town highlighted the long-term decline in the number of companies listed on the exchange, while retirement fund administrators reported strong demand for withdrawals under South Africa’s two-pot retirement system.
A separate international report also warned that prison facilities in the country are increasingly being used as bases for small-scale scam operations.
Resources lead the decline
Mining shares were the main drag on the market, with the JSE Resource 10 Index falling 1.01%.
Gold counters came under pressure as bullion prices slipped slightly in global trade. Spot Gold traded at about $4,488.72 an ounce, down 0.12%, while Silver also moved lower.
Among the biggest fallers, Gold Fields declined 2.63% to R666.32, while diversified miner Anglo American dropped 1.74% to R649.13. Commodity trader Glencore slipped 0.51% to R116.12.
Despite the weaker prices, trading volumes remained high. AngloGold Ashanti was among the most active counters of the day, recording nearly 19,700 trades and generating more than R4.7 billion in value traded.
Industrials and financials edge lower
The JSE All Share Industrials Index closed 0.20% lower, while the JSE Financial 15 Index declined 0.26%.
Telecommunications group MTN Group was among the notable losers, falling 3.41% to R191.55.
Insurance and financial counters also weakened. Momentum Metropolitan dropped 3.33%, while Sirius Real Estate and OUTsurance both ended the day in negative territory.
Large technology-linked counters were mixed. Prosus edged 0.42% higher, while Naspers slipped 0.41%.
The FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index, which tracks the exchange’s largest companies, closed 0.61% lower.
Selected stocks buck the trend
While the broader market ended weaker, several companies posted strong gains.
Technology group Bytes Technology Group gained 5.29%, while international ICT company Datatec rose 4.65%.
Food producer Premier Group advanced 4.45%, and automotive retailer Motus Holdings added 3.48%.
Among insurers, Santam rose 2.96%, while gold producer Harmony Gold finished 2.57% higher, moving against the softer gold price trend.
Property and small caps gain
Property shares provided some support to the market. The FTSE/JSE SA Listed Property Index gained 0.59%.
Smaller companies also recorded gains. The JSE Small Cap Index climbed 0.79%, while the JSE Mid Cap Index remained broadly flat, slipping just 0.02%.
Sector performance was mixed. Industrial support services rose 2.25%, travel and leisure stocks gained 1.60%, and food producers also climbed 1.60%. Shares in Tiger Brands increased 3.1% during the session.
Energy stocks were supported by higher oil prices, with Brent crude trading around $112.19 per barrel.
Currency and global markets
International markets showed mixed movements. The S&P 500 Index stood at 6,506, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded around 45,577. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was near 53,373.
Cryptocurrency prices also moved lower. Bitcoin fell 2.5% to about $68,742, while Ethereum dropped more than 3%.
Fewer companies listed on the JSE
Economist Haroon Bhorat, a professor at the university, said the study examined how companies access capital and what drives them to remain listed or delist.
One of the central findings was that delistings on the JSE have occurred at nearly twice the global average over the long term.
However, Bhorat said the trend needs to be viewed in context. The researchers compared the exchange across a broad sample of global markets from 1997 to 2021 and found that much of the divergence occurred in the earlier years of the period.
According to the research, most of the gap between the JSE and international exchanges appeared between 1997 and 2005, when delistings were particularly high.
“In the post-2005 period, our performance is relatively similar to a global sample of exchanges,” Bhorat said.
The study also found that larger and more profitable firms were more likely to remain listed.
Market concentration has increased over time, meaning a smaller number of large companies now dominate the exchange.
Bhorat said the shift partly reflects structural changes in South Africa’s economy after the democratic transition in the 1990s, as well as the growing role of private equity and other sources of funding outside public markets.
Retirement savings withdrawals surge
Administrators, including Old Mutual, Alexforbes, and Momentum have warned that large sums are being withdrawn from the retirement savings pool.
Alexforbes said it processed more than 140,000 claims during the first week of March, with the first claim submitted shortly after midnight on 1 March.
According to Vickie Lange, head of solutions enhancement at the company, early demand indicates that many members require rapid access to savings.
Data from Momentum also indicates repeated withdrawals among members. Executive Rigitté Van Zyl said 5% of claims were from first-time applicants, while 33% were second withdrawals and 62% were third withdrawals.
The majority of members are withdrawing their full available savings portion.
The pattern reflects broader financial pressures. According to the Eighty20 Credit Stress Report, around 40% of credit-active South Africans are in default on at least one loan, defined as being three months or more in arrears.
Prison scam centres on the rise
A new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime has warned that South African prisons are increasingly being used as centres for small-scale scam operations.
These operations often rely on personal information obtained through various channels and may involve collaborators outside the prison system who assist with accessing bank accounts or collecting payments.
While many of the operations are relatively simple compared with large, organised crime networks, the report says they still contribute to billions of rand in annual fraud losses.
The research also notes that scams operate at different levels, ranging from small groups in detention facilities to larger operations run from apartments, houses or office buildings.
According to the report, smaller operations are often favoured because they attract less attention and can operate for longer periods without detection.
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