February 2010
February 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 positive for the month.
Australian shares
The Australian stock market returned 2.0% in February, following a fall of -6.2% in January (S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index). Resource stocks outperformed industrial stocks over the month, returning 2.7% and 2.1% respectively.
International shares
Overall, international stock markets gained 0.6% in February, following a return of -2.9% in January (MSCI World Ex Australia in $A (unhedged)).
The US stock market returned 2.9% in February, following a fall of 3.7% in January (S&P500). Technology stocks were positive, returning 4.2% for the month (NASDAQ).
The UK stock market gained 3.2% for the month, following a return of -4.1% in January (FTSE).
The Japanese stock market (Nikkei) was negative 0.7% for the month, following a decrease of 3.3% the previous month.
Emerging markets returned -0.4% in Australian dollar terms, following a fall of 4.5% in January (MSCI Emerging Markets Free ($A) Accumulation Index).
Property
Australian listed property was positive for the month, returning 1.5% (S&P/ASX200 Property Trust Accumulation Index), following a return of -2.9% the previous month.
Fixed interest
The Australian bond market (UBS Australia Composite Bond Index) returned 0.5% in February. The international bond markets (Barclays Capital based Aggregate Index (hedged to $A) (formerly Lehman Brothers Index)) returned 0.8% for the month.
Cash
The Australian short-term money market returned 0.3% (UBS Warburg Australia Bank Bill Index).