December 2009
December saw positive performance for growth assets, with positive returns from Australian shares, international shares (unhedged to $A) and Australian Listed Property. Financial asset (Australian and international fixed interest) performance was negative for the month.
Australian shares
The Australian stock market gained 3.7% in December, following a return of 1.8% in November (S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index). Industrial stocks outperformed resource stocks over the month, returning 1.7% and 1.5% respectively.
International shares
Overall, international stock markets gained 3.6% in December, following a return of 2.8% in November (MSCI World Ex Australia in $A (unhedged)).
The US stock market returned 1.8% in December, following a return of 5.7% in November (S&P500). Technology stocks were positive, returning 5.8% for the month (NASDAQ).
The UK stock market returned 4.3% for the month, following a return of 2.9% in November (FTSE).
The Japanese stock market (Nikkei) gained 12.8%, further to a decrease of 6.9% the previous month.
Emerging markets returned 5.8% in Australian dollar terms, following a return of 3.0% in November (MSCI Emerging Markets Free ($A) Accumulation Index).
Property
Australian listed property was positive for the month, returning 2.5% (S&P/ASX200 Property Trust Accumulation Index), following a return of 1.0% the previous month.
Fixed interest
The Australian bond market (UBS Australia Composite Bond Index) returned -0.4% in December. The international bond markets (Barclays Capital based Aggregate Index (hedged to $A) (formerly Lehman Brothers Index)) returned -0.6% for the month.
Cash
The Australian short-term money market returned 0.3% (UBS Warburg Australia Bank Bill Index).