October 2009
October 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 mixed for the month.
Australian shares
The Australian stock market fell 2.1% in October, following a return of 6.3% in September (S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index). Resource stocks outperformed industrial stocks over the month, returning -1.1% and -2.5% respectively.
International shares
Overall, international stock markets fell 4.1% in October, following a return of 0.9% in September (MSCI World Ex Australia in $A (unhedged)).
The US stock market returned -2.0% in October, following an increase of 3.6% in September (S&P500). Technology stocks were negative, returning -3.6% for the month (NASDAQ).
The UK stock market returned -1.7% for the month, further to a return of 4.6% in September (FTSE).
The Japanese stock market decreased 1.0%, following a decrease of 3.4% the previous month (Nikkei).
Emerging markets returned -2.2% in Australian dollar terms, following a return of 4.2% in September (MSCI Emerging Markets Free ($A) Accumulation Index).
Property
Australian listed property was negative for the month, returning -9.0% (S&P/ASX200 Property Trust Accumulation Index), following a gain of 9.8% the previous month.
Fixed interest
The Australian bond market (UBS Australia Composite Bond Index) returned -0.1% in October. The international bond markets (Barclays Capital based Aggregate Index (hedged to $A) (formerly Lehman Brothers Index)) returned 0.5% for the month.
Cash
The Australian short-term money market returned 0.2% (UBS Warburg Australia Bank Bill Index).