January 2010
January saw negative performance for growth assets, with negative 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 -6.2% in January, following a gain of 3.7% in December (S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index). Industrial stocks outperformed resource stocks over the month, returning -4.8% and 9.2% respectively.
International shares
Overall, international stock markets fell 2.9% in January, following a return of 3.6% in December (MSCI World Ex Australia in $A (unhedged)).
The US stock market returned -3.7% in January, following a gain of 1.8% in December (S&P500). Technology stocks were negative, returning -5.4% for the month (NASDAQ).
The UK stock market fell 4.1% for the month, following a return of 4.3% in December (FTSE).
The Japanese stock market (Nikkei) was negative 3.3% for the month, following an increase of 12.8% the previous month.
Emerging markets returned -4.5% in Australian dollar terms, following a return of 5.8% in December (MSCI Emerging Markets Free ($A) Accumulation Index).
Property
Australian listed property was negative for the month, returning -2.9% (S&P/ASX200 Property Trust Accumulation Index), following a return of 2.5% the previous month.
Fixed interest
The Australian bond market (UBS Australia Composite Bond Index) returned 1.3% in January. The international bond markets (Barclays Capital based Aggregate Index (hedged to $A) (formerly Lehman Brothers Index)) returned 1.4% for the month.
Cash
The Australian short-term money market returned 0.3% (UBS Warburg Australia Bank Bill Index).