Markets bounce back in May
By Liam Egan
Australian equities bounced back in May, regaining most of what they lost in April and keeping the S&P/ASX 300 above 20 per cent for the financial year to date.
The benchmark index returned a median 3.2 per cent in May and 20.3 per cent for the financial year to date, according to a Mercer Investment Consulting survey.
This compares with a fall of 3.3 per cent in April and a decline of 1.9 per cent for the three months to April 30, which Mercer described as domestic equities’ worst monthly return for over two years.
Mid-cap companies performed best over the last 11 months, with the S&P/ASX mid 50 producing 27.9 per cent, compared to 19.3 per cent and 20.4 per cent respectively for the S&P/ASX 50 and ASX Smaller ordinaries.
The property trust sector was the only sector to produce a negative return for the month, falling by 0.3 per cent in May.
An Intech survey found growth super funds also benefited from good economic news in May, with the median manager returning 2.4 per cent for the month and 10.5 per cent for the financial year to date.
Top performers over the financial year to date on the Intech survey were Perpetual (13.2 per cent), Invesco (12.8 per cent) and AMP Balanced Growth (12.1 per cent).
The top-performing managers over three years were BGI (8.2 per cent), Perpetual (7.8 per cent) and Maple-Brown Abbott (7.7 per cent).
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