Market Commentary

2020 will probably have a few dedicated chapters in history books due to the unprecedented situations we had to go through in so many areas of our lives, and this, at a global scale. But the performance of African equity markets during the final trading week of the year reflects investors’ optimism for a return to normalcy as vaccination campaigns are unfolding across the globe, and governments confirmed their intention to support economies.

Overall, African equity markets started 2021 on the right foot. Most markets posted positive returns for the first week of the year. 

African equity markets performed strongly this week with some markets posting gains above 5% week-on-week. This echoed a strong week on global markets where major indices reached all-time highs and the bitcoin even broke above the 20,000$ bar. Markets seemed to be boosted by the progressive rollout of vaccines in the UK and the US, as well comments from the Fed. Hopes of advances in stimulus talks in the US also fueled positive sentiment among traders through the week, although on Friday markets closed down on signs that outstanding issues on this front remained.

African equities performance was mixed this week with each market reacting to their own set of local factors, while markets in the US, Europe and Asia, were mostly down for the week. Global markets seem to have reacted negatively to unsteady progress toward another covid-19 relief package in the US, unsuccessful negotiations to date on Britain’s trade relationships with the European Union, and were not particularly excited by the ECB extended its bond-buying program.