Tuesday 18 March 2025 will mark exactly five (5) years since we made a case for starting to accumulate positions in equities, taking a medium to long term view.
Over the period, the index has increased by over 46000 points, a gain of over 135%.
Our research is your opportunity.
I'm sure you'll recall the panic, chaos and life-changing events that took place at the time in which the 'Covid-19' pandemic impact everyone on planet Earth.
Of lesser importance than life itself were global stock markets that were gripped by fear last seen since the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC).
With the Top 40 and All Share index having collapsed by over 33% through 18 March 2020, our view was that the decline in equities represented an opportunity to initiate and start building positions within medium to long term portfolios.
The title of the flash comment was 'Red Equals Opportunity'
Did we call exact bottom? No, as the Top 40 only bottomed the following day (19 March 2020). This however did give clients the opportunity to snap up equities into slightly lower levels.
Now of course, the not all shares bottomed the following session.
Some had another two days to the downside.
Some had another three days to the downside.
Again, this represented an opportunity to accumulate.
How have markets performed since then? We know global equities have been on a massive run, but sticking with the JSE, here's what the Top 40 did:
Over the 5-year period, the JSE Top 40 Index has appreciated from 34715 (close on 18 March) to it's recent high of 81687 (06 March 2025).
That's a 135% gain.

Of course, the underlying constituents have, in most cases, experience gains well in excess of index gain.
While we spend most of our time looking to capture short term gains for cash flow, there are also opportunities to build positions for the medium to long term.
March 2020 is a actual/real-time example of how clients were alerted to opportunity to generate superior long term outperformance.
To make the switch to Unum Capital, get in touch today.
Reference (Image Below): Our comments on client group on 18 March 2020 at 16h26.

Lester Davids
Analyst: Unum Capital
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