For the background to this series of posts: herehere and here. And the summary:

  1. Small investors have some investing options.
  2. You can invest occasionally in lump sums (the once-off investors) or monthly through debit orders (the monthly investors).
  3. As for things to invest in, I’m a general fan of low-cost equity-index-tracker ETFs (as is Warren Buffett). But there are other possibilities as well.
  4. This series of posts is there to see which would work out well.
  5. Then there are some indicators at the end.

The main news of the week:

  1. We have a new SARB governor appointment (the Rand immediately strengthened).
  2. Platinum and Gold swan-dived.

The Once-Off Investors

The strengthening of the Rand (only really in the last few days) meant a bit of a fall-back for the dollar-denominated stuff (the MSCI World Equities ETF, the USDs, etc):

Once Off Investor Graph Week 29

Once Off investor table week 29

The Monthly Investors

You’re starting to see a bit of a separation between the asset classes. And really, what I mean is: gold.

Monthly Investor Graph Week 29

Monthly Investor Table Week 29

The Indicators

The basic summary:

The Indicators Week 29

 

The exchange rate – is improving. A bit. On the news that Lesetja Kganyago will be replacing Gill Marcus as SARB governor in early November. The general opinion is that he’ll be more hawkish about controlling inflation – which is making the bond markets happy.

ZAR/USD Exchange Rate

Gold and Platinum USD

The stock market, less so:

ALSI Week 29

Although the stock market movement has a lot to do with this:

Screen Shot 2014-10-07 at 7.17.55 PM

Gold and Platinum ZAR

 

Platinum. Good gracious.

The story is that speculators are driving the price lower by taking up short positions “as the largest producers take time to return to normal output levels after the labour strike”. I’m not joking – read here.

This is the mining equivalent of shorting food stocks in anticipation of a famine.

I say this unabashedly – if you’re looking for some short-term upside, go and purchase a platinum ETF.

In other commodity news, oil:

Oil Price USD

Oil Price ZAR

 

Until next week!

Rolling Alpha posts opinions on finance, economics, and the corporate life in general. Follow me on Twitter @RollingAlpha, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rollingalpha.