SA reforms spur Abax to boost exposure

EQUITIES: SA'S BENCHMARK INDEX ROSE 2.4%

Asset manager's upbeat view matches that of 17 local fund managers by Bank of America.

Asset manager Abax Investments has increased exposure to South African equities, encouraged by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic-reform plans, but warned that investors would want to see results before gett ing too excited.

Since the May election that stripped the ANC of its parliamentary majority and forced it to form a coalition with rivals, South Africa’s benchmark index has climbed 2.4% in rand terms, outperforming the 0.2% increase in the MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index.

The Abax Equity Prescient Fund, which only has holdings in South African equities, has increased 7.3% so far this year compared with a 3.9% jump in nation’s benchmark gauge for shares. In that period, the fund manager has raised its exposure to stocks in companies that operate in SA – rather than Johannesburg-listed fi rms with businesses elsewhere – to 47%.