June 2008
June saw negative performance for our growth assets, with negative returns from Australian shares, International shares (hedged to $A) and Australian Listed Property. Financial asset (Australian and international fixed interest) performance was positive for the month.
Australian shares
The Australian stock market declined 7.6% in June, following a gain of 1.7% in May (S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index). Resource stocks outperformed Industrial stocks over the month, returning 0.7% and -10.8% respectively.
International shares
Overall, international stock markets returned -8.6% in June, following a gain of 0.3% in May (MSCI World Ex Australia in $A (unhedged)).
The US stock market declined 8.6% in June, following a gain of 1.1% in May (S&P500). Technology stocks were negative, returning -9.1% for the month (NASDAQ).
The UK stock market declined 7.1% for the month, further to a decline of 0.6% in May (FTSE).
The Japanese stock market (Nikkei) returned -6.0%, following a gain of 3.5% the previous month.
Emerging markets declined 10.5% in Australian dollar terms, following a gain of 0.7% in May (MSCI Emerging Markets Free ($A) Accumulation Index).
Property
Australian listed property declined 10.9% (S&P/ASX200 Property Trust Accumulation Index), further to a decline of 9.0% the previous month.
Fixed interest
The Australian bond market (UBS Australia Composite Bond Index) returned 0.3% in June. The international bond markets (Lehman Bros Global Aggregate Index (hedged to $A)) returned 0.1% for the month.
Cash
The Australian short-term money market returned 0.6% (UBS Warburg Australia Bank Bill Index).