A record run of recorded inflows into South African stocks were the result of a programming error, with foreign investors in fact selling more shares than they bought over the period, the country’s stock exchange said.
Rather than spending a net R63,8bn on South African stocks in June, foreigners sold a net R20,3bn, the JSE said in a statement on Sunday.
Outflows in May were R16,1bn, compared to the R6,4bn of inflows that were recorded. So far in July, non-residents have been net buyers of about R50m of stocks and not R27,9bn as the JSE stated before.
“We have taken immediate steps to correct the statistics and we are considering additional measures to avoid” a recurrence, JSE information services director Leanne Parsons said in the statement.
Data relating to the bond market didn’t influence the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to leave rates unchanged on 21 July, though the data was quoted in the statement, the South African Reserve Bank said in a statement on its website.
“It’s a big error, and obviously means that foreigners weren’t so keen on South African stocks,” Stephen Meintjes, a senior analyst at Momentum SP Reid Securities, said by phone from Johannesburg. “It doesn’t alter the fact that the market held up alright, in line with a general move to lessening the risk-off stance that was in place prior to Brexit.”
The rand weakened less than 0,1% to R14,30/US$ by 10.19am in Johannesburg, paring gains this year to 8,2%. The benchmark stock index advanced 1%. — (c) 2016 Bloomberg LP