LPTs win 2001, but equities bite back

Listed property trusts (LPT) have finished 2001 as the best performing asset class for Australia investors, rewarding those who flocked to defensive sectors both before and after the September terrorist attacks in the US.

The latest analysis of the performance of different asset classes over the course of 2001 by fund managerAusbil Dexiashows LPTs returned a full 14.6 per cent over the calendar year.

By comparison, the Australian stock market, measured against the S&P/ASX 200, returned 10.4 per cent, while international equity markets continued to languish under the doom of global economic conditions, returning a dismal negative 10 per cent.

But equity markets, both domestic and international, made a strong comeback in the later months of 2001, pointing to a better year ahead for the world’s stock markets, according to Ausbil Dexia chief investment officer Michael Wilson.

In December, the Australian equities sector returned 2.7 per cent, making it the top performing asset class for the month, followed by international equities, which returned 2.2 per cent, and LPTs, which returned 2.0 per cent.

“This positive trend [for equities] represents a significant change in attitude and increasing consumer and investor confidence around the world that there is a recovery on the horizon. The powerful fiscal and monetary stimulus of governments and central bankers globally in 2001 has started to bite, generating a more optimistic outlook for 2002 and modifying fears of a world recession,” Wilson says.

Wilson says the sluggish performance of bond markets, both in Australia and overseas, was further evidence of expectations of much improved results from equity markets in 2002.

The Australian bond market disappointed with a negative 0.9 per cent return in December and only 5.5 per cent for the 2001 calendar year. Similarly, international bonds returned 0.9 per cent in December and 6.9 per cent for the year.

“The continuing negative run by the bond market is also an historical indicator of strengthening equity markets and a pickup in cyclical stocks,” Wilson says.

The combined performance of all assets classes since the start of the new financial year in July has placed investors on a path to achieve returns in the order of four per cent for the full financial year, Wilson says.