Another year's over and a new one's just begun. What can we expect in the new financial year?
Most traders will be happy to close the book on the 2008/09 financial year.
We saw the market lose 24% which represents the worst loss since the 1981/82 year.
In terms of sectors, every single sector lost ground except for the smallest sector on the Australian sharemarket – information technology. In fact this sector makes up less than 1% of the Australian sharemarket. Information technology was the best performing sector despite gaining just 0.9% in the 52 weeks.
The best sectors tended to be defensive stocks, with the healthcare sector only losing 3% and consumer staples down 7%.
In terms of worst performers, it was a case of 'take your pick'!
The worst sector was property with a loss of 47%.
The materials sector lost 35% while industrials were down by 34%.
Individual stock performances was an interesting one.
The best performer in the ASX 200 was a uranium company called Extract Resources with a gain of 408%.
The second prize went to Karoon Gas with a gain of 100%. Its shares have been soaring on the back of drilling in the Browse Basin with its joint venture partner Conoco Phillips.
Despite a difficult year for tourism and airlines, on-line accommodation business Wotif was the main beneficiary as travellers demanded cheaper accommodation. Wotif was up 67%.
On the losing side, there were a number of high profile failures which are no longer listed on the market.
ABC Learning Centres, Allco, Babcock & Brown are just a few of the companies that toppled under the pressure of debt and the credit crunch.
In terms of the worst performers in the ASX 200, you wouldn't have been happy holding Babcock & Brown Infrastructure which lost 90%, Boart Longyear which lost 88% or Goodman Group which saw a loss of 87%.
But it wasn't all doom and gloom. The last quarter has seen a very strong performance with a gain of 9.7%. In the calendar year to date, the market is up 6.3%.
The next few years are going to be ones in which timing is going to be crucial. You only have to look back in history to know that the path of recovery is not always a smooth one.
The good news is that most brokers and analysts are predicting that the market will be at 4800-5000 points by the end of the year. That means that for the 2009 calendar year, the Australian sharemarket could be heading for a gain of more than 30%.
Happy new financial year!
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Happy investing!
Julia Lee Equities Analyst Bell Direct
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