12 March 2010 01:31

Is the bull here to stay or not?

Investment professionals remain sceptical about the current market recovery.

Just over a year has passed since the FTSE/JSE All Share Index hit a low of 18 120 on 3 March 2009. Since then we have seen a recovery of 56,4% up to this year's high of January 11, and despite a pull-back of 8,8%% over the subsequent four weeks, the market as at the time of writing is still 55,0% above its March 2009 low.

"It is interesting to note that over the year ended 28 February 2010, only 15 of the 79 domestic general equity unit trust funds managed to outperform the FTSE/JSE All Share Index," notes Dr Prieur du Plessis, chairman of the Plexus Group. "While in the South African scenario this is usually blamed on superior performance from mining and resources shares, this time round it is not the case," says du Plessis. "The financial and industrial sectors out-performed ...