South African Stocks Slide as Metal Selloff Hits Miners

SAALL increased to an all-time high of 126952.00 Index Points. Over the past 4 weeks, South Africa Stock Market Index (Composite) gained 1.83%, and in the last 12 months, it increased 43.61%.

South African equities opened February sharply lower, extending Friday’s steep selloff, as a broad retreat in metals weighed heavily on the market. The FTSE/JSE All Share Index and the Top-40 both fell more than 3% from record highs, led by losses in mining shares. Major miners including Sibanye Stillwater, Gold Fields, and AngloGold Ashanti declined after gold, silver, and copper prices pulled back from recent rallies amid intensified profit-taking.

The JSE index in South Africa rose for a third consecutive day on Thursday, gaining 0.3% to around 121,150, after touching an intraday record of 121,705. Solid gains in industrials, financials, telecommunications and retailers more than offset weakness in resource sectors. Sasol jumped nearly 8% to the top of the index after reporting a resilient operational performance for the six months ending 31 December 2025, driven by critical infrastructure milestones in its Southern African business. Other notable performers included Coronat (6.4%), MTN Group (5%), Truworths (4.3%) and The Foschini Group (3.9%), which contrasted with steep declines in gold miners such as Anglo Gold (-5.6%), Gold Fields (-3.9%) DRD Gold (-3.5%) and Harmony Gold (-3.3%). Rising precious metal prices and renewed confidence in South Africa’s economic fundamentals have been key drivers of the market’s recent performance.