South African Stocks Soar as Gold Jumps; Miners Lead, Naspers Adds Muscle

What moved the market

Johannesburg stocks ripped higher, snapping a near seven-month lull after the Democratic Party's sweeping win in the US midterms fueled a global rebound. The FTSE/JSE All Share climbed up to 5.2%, with Thursday's catch-up rally coming after the local exchange was closed Wednesday for a holiday.

As investors wagered the result would rein in the Trump administration's plans for taxes and outlays, the dollar and Treasury yields fell. That supported gold - bullion does not pay interest, so lower yields help, and a weaker dollar makes it cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

Gold and miners did the heavy lifting

On Thursday, gold was up by as much as 2.1%, changing hands near 4,128 dollars an ounce, following its largest one-day increase since August a day earlier. An index of precious metals producers advanced 8.8% and was on pace for its best day since June, led by Anglogold Ashanti and Gold Fields, with miners crowding the leaderboard in Johannesburg.

Tech tailwind and cheaper oil

Naspers delivered the single biggest boost to the benchmark, jumping 13% - its steepest rise since December 2023 - on brighter sentiment toward Chinese stocks. Its subsidiary Prosus owns roughly 23% of Tencent, and in Hong Kong on Thursday Tencent advanced 7.2%; Prosus climbed 4.2% in Amsterdam.

Williams also pointed to an approximately 18% drop in Brent crude this week as a support for South African equities. "The lower oil price is also improving sentiment to the metals counters as this lowers the operating costs of the miners, improving sentiment further," he said.

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The bottom line for investors

This week, the primary South African benchmark has risen 6.7%, beating a developing-nation gauge that has slipped 1.3%. In plain English: softer yields and a weaker dollar lifted gold, cheaper oil trimmed mining costs, and resource-heavy portfolios caught a strong tailwind.

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