Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
Optimism over strong recoveries in developed market economies, including the US and most of Europe, as vaccine programmes are rolled out, has helped fuel strong equity market performances this year. So, too, has the massive stimulus pumped into economies by central banks, including the Federal Reserve.
Whereas the JSE’s gains seem to belie local economic prospects and the slow pace of vaccinations, it is benefiting, to the full, from the global factors.
The exchange’s broad-market All Share Index is up about 12% so far this year. The blue-chip Top 40 Index, which includes the exchange’s most valuable shares, shows a similar gain.