The final quarter of 2023 saw a synchronized rally across global bonds and equities as falling inflation in many economies led central banks to continue to pause or effectively end their interest rate hiking cycles and start to look towards rate cuts, particularly in the US. And, although a growth slowdown is still expected in 2024, this and the gradually improving outlook buoyed investor sentiment, resulting in strong gains in November and renewed bullishness in December, to end the year with unexpectedly good asset performance.
December’s returns were dominated by the US Federal Reserve’s unexpectedly positive forecasts at their 13 December policy meeting as, besides leaving interest rates on hold, they clearly indicated their expectations for three 25bp interest rate cuts in 2024, as well as forecasting a “soft landing” for the US economy. They also added that they didn’t want to make an error by “waiting too long” to begin lowering rates. This was very good news for both equity and bond markets, helping bolster the 2024 outlook despite the uncertainty still surrounding the cumulative negative impact from the steep rate hiking cycle. Other large central banks also left interest rates on hold at their December policy meetings as expected.
Global equity (as measured by the MSCI ACWI) delivered 11.0% in Q4, emerging market equities returned 7.9% (MSCI Emerging Markets Index). All in US$. In South Africa, the FTSE/JSE Capped SWIX Index posted an 8.2% return in rand and somewhat stronger than other emerging markets. Gains were propelled by a strong rebound in the All Property Index over the quarter. South African bonds delivered an impressive 8.1% for the quarter. Meanwhile, the rand gained 2.7% against a weaker US dollar in Q4, but in total lost 8.2% against the US dollar, 14.1% versus the UK pound and 12.1% against the euro in 2023.
For 2023 as a whole, global equities returned an excellent 22.2% in US$ and 32.3% in rand (due to rand depreciation), with gains fairly concentrated around a handful of giant global AI-related US companies, termed the “magnificent seven”. These outpaced other US shares and, indeed, most other equity markets for the year, making the US meaningfully more expensive than its global counterparts. This also reflected the relative vitality of the US economy versus most other large economies. By contrast, Chinese tech stocks were deep in the red, with Tencent losing 54% for the year.Global bonds experienced a very volatile year, and ultimately, as an asset class returned 5.7% for the year.
South African assets were weighed down in 2023 by ongoing general pessimism over the country’s weak growth prospects, loadshedding and uncertain government finances, exacerbated by the higher risks associated with the grey-listing of SA in global financial transactions and incidents like the “Lady R” and hosting of the BRICS Summit. This manifested in rand weakness and equity underperformance.
The FTSE/JSE ALSI returned 9.3% and the more domestically-focused FTSE/JSE Capped SWIX Index posted 7.9% for the year. However, SA bonds notably outperformed their global counterparts for the year, helped by their cheap valuations at the start of 2023, delivering a 9.7% annual return.
South Africa
In South Africa, at its 23 November policy meeting the SA Reserve Bank voted unanimously to keep the repo rate steady at 8.25%, as expected. Governor Lesetja Kanyago still sounded relatively hawkish regarding inflation, but noted that growth was likely to remain muted due to ongoing energy and logistical constraints (at ports and railways) weighing on economic activity and adding to the costs of doing business. Looking ahead, the SARB projected GDP growth at 0.8% for 2023, 1.2% in 2024 and 1.3% in 2025, the latter improvements due largely to added electricity supply. Besides local headwinds to growth, China’s ongoing slower growth presents challenges for SA’s commodity exports.
Adapted article by M & G Investments