Banks Lead Declines as South African Stocks Fall Most in 7 Weeks

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index closes 1.4% lower on Monday, biggest decline since Dec. 6.

• “The rand is weaker — a little bit of the excitement and positivity of Cyril Ramaphosa in Davos is waning,” Michele Santangelo, a money manager at Independent Securities, says by phone. “A lot of stocks that have had huge runs that are coming off, particularly in the financial sector, had a great start to the year”
• Banking stocks index drops 4.5%, biggest slump in 10 months
  • Capitec -8%; Nedbank -4.3%; FirstRand -4.3%; Standard Bank -4.2%; Barclays Africa -4.1%; RMB Holdings -3.7%
• Listed property index tumbles 4.3% 
  • Fortress REIT B-shares -12%; Resilient -8%; NEPI Rockcastle -6.3%; Greenbay Properties -5.1%; MAS Real Estate -5%; Investec Property -4.4%
• “Generally, there’s quite a strong correlation between the property stocks and our bonds. Most of our bonds across the board have sold off, with yields rising around 1.4%, so that generally corresponds to a sell-off in some of the property stocks as well,” Santangelo says
• Naspers, which has a ~20% weighting in the index, declined 1.2%
• Rand weakens 0.7% by 5:37pm in Johannesburg
• News:
  • UBS’s List of Most Crowded EM Stock Markets Puts Egypt on Top
  • S. African Rand Weakens to Trade Above 12/USD in Johannesburg
  • Capitec Slumps Most in Two Years, Leads S. African Bank Drop