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Bloomberg
South Africa’s stock market is set for its worst quarter on record as the coronavirus ravages global equities, but gold miners are at least shining amid the gloom.
The FTSE/JSE Africa Gold Mining Index is the sole Johannesburg industry sector to post gains in 2020, rising 11% as bullion prices advance for the sixth consecutive quarter.
The broader South African stocks benchmark is down 24%, the worst performance since Bloomberg started tracking it in 1995.
And more gains for the sector could be in store, according
to Seleho Tsatsi, an investment analyst at Anchor Capital in
Johannesburg.
Gold’s rise, tempered by a rush to buy dollars among anxious investors, should resume as unprecedented interventions by central banks to reduce borrowing costs and counter the pandemic’s economic destruction add to the precious metal’s allure.
“With the very strong response seen from major central banks around the world, it seems likely that real rates will remain relatively low for now, which should be supportive of gold,†Tsatsi said.