The South African economy may begin to pick up after the end to the strikes. Platinum producers stated that they lost over $2 billion in revenue since the strikes started while workers lost about $1 billion in wages. The economy contracted 0.6% over the first quarter year-over-over year, the first decline since 2009. [Macro Woes Could Hamper South Africa ETF]
“It’s going to take the economy quite a few months to recover. There will probably be parts of the platinum belt that never recover,” independent economist Mike Schussler said in the WSJ article.
The iShares MSCI South Africa ETF (NYSEArca: EZA) is up 8.3% year-to-date. EZA has a 9.7% weight toward basic materials. The ETF’s largest sector weights include telecom services 28.7%, financial services 24.2% and consumer cyclical 12.6%.
ETFS Physical Platinum Shares
For more information on the platinum market, visit our platinum category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.