The JSE is one good trading session away from breaching what would be a historic 100,000 points mark in its 137-year history, as the bourse continues to shrug off geopolitical noise and threats of tariffs.
The all-share index, the broadest measure of SA stock market performance, reached a new high of 98,867 points on Friday, buoyed by a rally in resources and financial stocks.
The index represents 99% of listed companies and excludes fledgling companies and tradable products such as exchange traded funds, exchange-traded notes, structured products and warrants.
SA equities are on course for a stellar second half, after a record-breaking first half of the year, which added more than R1-trillion in value.
The SA equity market has experienced one of the broadest recoveries in global equity markets since US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff scare in early April, according to research by Deutsche Bank.
The all share finished the first six months of 2025 up 14.7%, the strongest first-half performance since the 17.4% growth in the first half of 2006, when the economy was on a hot streak after sustained growth.
The bourse, which has halved in size over the past two decades in terms of the number of companies listed, has continued its stellar start to the year, with the all share up 17.35% year to date, while the top 40 index has surged 20.68%.
Midcap companies have also had a solid year, with the index tracking them up 12.76% since January.
The precious metals & mining index has shot the lights out, having rallied 90.7%, with gold stocks on a winning streak. They have mirrored the price of bullion, which has been on a record-breaking spree as geopolitical tensions and trade war fears drive investors to safe-haven assets.
The price of gold finished the first half of 2025 as one of the top-performing major asset classes, rising 26% since January, according to data from the World Gold Council.
SA gold mining majors, like their peers in other jurisdictions, have enjoyed a purple patch as the price of bullion has consistently remained above the $3,000/oz mark. To put this in context, the price of gold recorded 26 new record highs in the first six months of the year.
SA’s largest gold producer by volume, Harmony, is up 65% since January, while Gold Fields has surged 75.61%, and AngloGold Ashanti has soared 101% in the period.
Sibanye-Stillwater, which still has exposure to gold, has climbed 173%. The gold mining majors have now breached a combined market capitalisation of more than R1-trillion.
The high gold prices, which the World Bank expects to remain above $3,000 in 2026, have seen a hive of deal-making in the sector.
Gold Fields closed a binding agreement in May to acquire 100% of Australian miner Gold Road Resources for about $2.4bn. The Gold Road deal came shortly after Gold Fields completed the acquisition of Osisko Mining in Canada for C$1.93bn.
AngloGold Ashanti has also been aggressive in the deal-making space, looking to increase its production profile at a time of soaring gold prices, which the World Bank expects to hold going into 2026.
The company, which moved its primary listing to New York in 2024, completed the purchase of Egypt’s largest gold miner, Centamin, for $2.5bn. The acquisition boosted AngloGold’s production by about 450,000oz a year.
The company last week followed this up with a $111m deal to acquire Canadian miner Augusta Gold.
Harmony, SA’s largest gold producer by volume has used the favourable gold price to fuel its strategy of diversification to copper. The company, chaired by Patrice Motsepe, in May announced a R18.4bn deal to buy MAC Copper.
JSE-listed gold mining groups have spent nearly R150bn in acquisitions over the past year.
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