It's not just the numbers - it hurts ordinary South Africans
Johannesburg, 13 December 2015. South African capital markets posted significant losses and saw unprecedented activity following the announcement by President Jacob Zuma on the evening of the 9th of December to replace the Minister of Finance. Investors, ranging from individual retirees to huge pension funds, have seen the value of their holdings plummet. Businesses already under pressure now face increases coming from rising borrowing costs and a weaker Rand which devalued from R14.53 to R15.89 (9.36%) against the USD and from R15.94 to R17.45 (9.47%) against the EUR in the two subsequent days.
Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December 201 saw exceptional trading volumes across most platforms of the JSE:
- Average daily value traded in the Equity Market on those two days, at R47.8bn, was more than double the year to date average for 2015 (R19.9bn).
- Average daily number of trades in the Equity Market on those two days of 589 721 (both of which were record trading days) was more than double the year to date average of 246 338 trades
- The FTSE/JSE Financial15 Index (FINI) dropped 13.36% from 15 600 to 13 515