In March our average prudential balanced portfolio returned 0.86% (February 1.12%). Top performer is Allan Gray (1.43%), while Momentum/ Metropolitan (0.44%) takes bottom spot.

Taking a longer term view, the SA Allshare Index has grown by 12.6% p.a. since March 1997, not taking into account dividends of somewhere between 2% and 4% p.a. Namibian inflation over this period was 7.2% p.a. Evidently, the SA Allshare Index has grown in real terms over this nearly 15 year period by around 5.4% excluding dividends and by between 7% and 9% p.a. including dividends, which is representative of the long term real return of around 8% p.a. For a local investor this indicates that the SA Allshare Index is currently around its long-term trend line which is not a particularly compelling case for investing in this index but promises long-term returns equal to what the market is expected to deliver.