Besides Platinum & Gold Miners, Traders Are Hiding In This Steady Sector

Research Notes January 2026 > https://www.unum.capital/post/rjan2026

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JSE Sector Comparative Analysis

Period: 09 Jan 2026 vs. 13 Jan 2026

Gold Miners: 🟢 Awakening. The most significant positive shift. Medium Term moved from "Neutral" to "Strong," and Short Term exploded from "Neutral" to "High Bullish Momentum." Capital is flooding into Gold.

Platinum Miners: 🟢 Acceleration. Short Term momentum reignited (Neutral → Strong). Medium Term is now "Overbought," reflecting the intensity of the buying pressure.

Banks: 🔴 Collapse. A disaster for Financials. Short Term momentum crashed from "Neutral" to "High Bearish Momentum / Approaching Oversold." This indicates a sudden, high-volume liquidation event.

Insurers: 🔴 Contagion. Followed Banks off the cliff. Short Term momentum dropped to "High Bearish Momentum," confirming broad weakness in the financial complex.

Coal Miners: 🔴 Blow-Off Top. The parabolic "High Bullish" signal from Jan 9 evaporated completely, dropping back to "Neutral." The trade was crowded and flushed out immediately.

Telecoms: 🔴 Failure. The defensive breakout failed. Short Term momentum swung from "Strong" to "Weak."

Miners (Div): 🟡 Cooling. Momentum faded from "Strong" (MT/ST) back to "Neutral." The sector is taking a breather while Gold/Platinum take the lead.

Consumer Staples: ⚪ Steady. One of the few sectors to hold its ground. Retained "Strong" Short Term momentum, validating its role as a safe haven.

Chemicals: ⚪ Resilient. Surprisingly held its "Strong" Short Term rating despite the broader market sell-off, confirming genuine value interest.

Consumer Disc.: 🔴 Breakdown. Short Term support failed (Neutral → Weak), re-aligning with the "High Bearish" longer-term trend.

Paper & Pulp: 🔴 Deterioration. Medium Term worsened from "Weak" to "High Bearish Momentum." The falling knife is accelerating.

Luxury Goods: 🔴 Weakness. Deteriorated from "Neutral" (MT/ST) to "Weak" across the board.

Hospitals: 🟡 Faded. Short Term momentum dropped from "Strong" to "Neutral." The speculative bid dried up.

Technology: ⚪ Unchanged. Remains structurally weak with "High Bearish Momentum" in the Medium Term.

Key Technical Shifts Explained

1. The "Golden Pivot": On Jan 9, Gold was quiet. By Jan 13, it is the hottest sector. This suggests a massive "Risk-Off" macro pivot where investors are dumping general equities (especially Financials) to hide in hard assets. The synchronization of Platinum and Gold strength confirms a "Precious Metals Super-Cycle" bid.

2. The Liquidation of SA Inc (Banks/Insurers): The shift in Banks from "Neutral" to "High Bearish" in two days is rare and violent. It implies that foreign capital may be exiting the South African financial system aggressively. This is not a "cooling off"—it is a crash in sentiment.

3. The "Fake-Out" (Coal & Telecoms): Traders who chased the "High Bullish" Coal signal or the "Strong" Telecoms signal on Jan 9 were trapped. Both reversals highlight the current volatility of the market; trends that aren't backed by structural flows (like Gold/Platinum) are fragile and prone to rapid reversals.

Lester Davids

Senior Investment Analyst: Unum Capital