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Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is due to present the budget at 14:00 today (Wednesday) 24 February 2021.
 
 

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Well, once again, Rhodium was on a different planet to everything else, with the 1nvest Rhodium ETF (ETFRHO) delivering growth of 187.1%. Originally, the reason for the stellar growth of Rhodium was the change from platinum catalysts to rhodium in the auto industry, but now I suspect that it is purely momentum. I wonder how long this can go on. Every year, I think the performance cannot be repeated and then each year is better than the last. It's kind of like Bitcoin at the moment. It could collapse at any time or could go past the moon.
 
The top 10 performing ETFs in South Africa tracking market indices for 2020 were:
 
SYG4IR:     68.1%     (Sygnia Itrix 4th Industrial Revolution Global Equity ETF)
STXNDQ:     56.1%     (Satrix Nasdaq 100 ETF)
ETF5IT:     49.9%     (1nvest S&P 500 Info Tech ETF)
SYGUS:     26.3%     (Sygnia Itrix MSCI USA ETF)
STX500:     24.3%     (Satrix S&P 500 ETF)
STXEMG:     24.2%     (Satrix MSCI Emerging Markets ETF)
SYG500:     23.8%     (Sygnia Itrix S&P 500 ETF)
ETF500:     23.0%     (1nvest S&P 500 ETF)
CSP500:     22.7%     (CoreShares S&P 500 ETF)
STXWDM:     22.0%     (Satrix MSCI World ETF)
 
Source: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/investing/etfs-investing/local-etf-returns-is-the-market-mood-shifting/
 
Once again, SYG4IR has had amazing performance despite having many critics in the financial world. I think with ETFs, popular is good, and as long as it remains popular, it will keep growing. In a way, I think it's similar to Rhodium - growth can carry on for many years as long as there is momentum.

Also, as predicted, STXNDQ did finally overtake ETF5IT. I personally don't like ETF5IT since roughly 40% is made up of just two companies - Microsoft and Apple. I just don't see how these two companies can continue repeating their stellar financial results of 2020 year after year, but then you never know.

Interesting that all of them are offshore this year - Bandit was right with his prediction.
 

 

It's that time of year again - albeit a very unusual year!
 
So my personal top five stock pics for next year are as follows (in order):
 
#1)  DGH   (Distell)  - This one's share price has been hammered by the lockdowns and stocks are dirt cheap. But drinking never stops and eventually, sales and profits always return. This company is also huge and very resilient. If I had to choose just one stock for the coming year, it would be this one.
 
#2)  APN   (Aspen) - With an agreement to produce a COVID vaccine, the exposure to this company should be massive once they begin production.
 
#3) PPC (PPC Cement) - This one is tricky, because they have a significant debt problem to solve. If they fix their debt problem, they could be at R6.00 by the end of 2021. If they don't, they could be at 60c. But this year has been fantastic for the company. They have increased profits and reduced debt considerably. If they keep it up, good things are in store for this company.
 
#4) DCP (Dischem) - Dis-Chem has launched it's new innovative Clinic Connect - a  nurse-led healthcare system where nurses take your vitals and symptoms etc., and can video-chat a Doctor for a script should one be required, with clinic visits being substantially cheaper than Doctor visits, and you can still get a prescription. If this takes off, this could do wonders for the group.
 
#5) SSS (Store-Age) - Largely unaffected by COVID, because people who rent storage keep renting the storage, even during tough times. With a dividend yield at over 8% and good financials, this one is bread and butter, even through terrible times.
 
 
Other notable mentions:
CML - Coronation
L4L - Long4Life
CPI - Capitec
DSY - Discovery
SRE - Sirius
 
 

Virgin Money South Africa announced that it has changed its name to Spot Money SA, adopting the name of its Virgin Money Spot app.
 
The link to Spot Money is https://spotmoney.com/
 
This follows the Virgin Group’s divestment from its South African operations, including the Virgin Money credit card.
Virgin Money South Africa launched its Spot mobile application in 2018.
 
The app, which was developed in partnership with wiGroup, started by offering peer-to-peer money transfers and mobile payments.
 
A few months after the app’s launch, Virgin Money released a new version of Spot that was built on blockchain technology.
 
Andre Hugo, who was the CEO of Virgin Money SA at the time, and is now the CEO of Spot Money SA, said that they adopted distributed ledger technology because of its inherent safety and speed.
 
The cryptocurrency token that Spot’s system uses internally is pegged at a one-to-one exchange rate with the Rand.
 
“All Spot transactions are recorded in our blockchain ledger, which means they are tamper-proof,” Hugo stated.
 
“Virgin Money Spot is the first retail micro-token exchange in South Africa. What this means for consumers is that we can transfer value in a fast, cost-efficient and transparent manner that protects against fraud and gives our customers peace of mind.”
 

Total Expense Ratios (TERs) of all the ETFs listed on the JSE

Measure the costs of operating the ETF portfolios, including the management fees and costs of the issuing company. All figures are annualised and normally require that the ETF has a 12-month history in order to calculate. TERs are calculated utilising a standard guideline for all unit trusts and ETFs.
 
The TER is included in price of the ETF product and is not paid directly by the investor.