At the start of 2026, several fund managers were saying the same thing about shares in companies that earn their living in South Africa: they were good value, and this would be their bumper year. Between July and September, those shares were among the biggest losers on the JSE, led by groups that depend on what South Africans spend.
The shops took the worst of it
Woolworths fell 27% over the three months, according to Profile Data figures published by Moneyweb. Truworths, Astral Foods and Italtile each lost 23%. Behind them came a long list that dropped at least 16%, including The Foschini Group, Pepkor, AVI, Dis-Chem, WeBuyCars, Sun International and even MTN.
Woolworths had a bad September on top of a bad quarter. It was dropped from the JSE's Top 40 index for the first time since 2011, with Aspen Pharmacare taking its place. By the middle of the month it had lost close to a third of its market value since January, down to R37.24 billion.
Not every till was quiet, though. Anchor Capital's September note picks out Shoprite and Boxer as bright spots, up 22% and 15% for the year. Shares tied to the local economy as a whole still fell 3.3% in September.
The miners did the most damage
Local shoppers were only part of it. Anchor's Peter Little says falling gold and platinum shares were the biggest drag on the index, and those miners alone took more than 3% off it in September as metal prices fell. Naspers and Prosus cost it about another 1%, as Tencent, their largest investment, kept sliding.
Add it up and the losers outnumber the winners. Of the 271 shares in Moneyweb's count, 166 went nowhere or fell over the quarter, and fewer than two in five managed any gain at all.
Bloomberg's momentum gauge has the main index at its most oversold in 17 months, a reading built on how fast and how far prices have dropped. Robert Naess, a portfolio manager at Nordea, told Bloomberg a technical bounce is likely, but that a lasting recovery depends on the dollar, gold and China.
The fund managers who called 2026 for local shares have one quarter left to be right.
