The S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.85 per cent during April, new data from S&P Dow Jones Indices has indicated, as the heavyweight materials sector dragged down the index.
While the majority of sectors ended April in the black, materials lost 4.33 per cent, consumer discretionary declined 3.15 per cent and communication services fell 0.32 per cent.
The largest drop of 10.37 per cent for the information technology sector was “in line with the global trend of ‘big tech’ underperformance” seen during the month, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices senior associate of index investment strategy Sherifa Issifu.
Information technology has sunk 22.29 per cent annually and is one of only three sectors to be down on an annual basis alongside consumer discretionary (-2.66 per cent) and health care (-0.07 per cent).
On the positive side, utilities was the best performer in April with a 9.33 per cent lift. The sector is also on top annually after moving 41.15 per cent higher over the past 12 months.
The next best monthly performers were industrials (3.47 percent), consumer staples (3.29 per cent), energy (2.52 per cent), health care (2.37 per cent) and real estate (0.90 per cent). The financials sector also managed to end April in the positive with a rise of just 0.09 per cent.
After utilities, energy has recorded the second highest returns annually (34.24 per cent) followed by consumer staples (15.97 per cent), materials (14.28 per cent), real estate (13.51 per cent) and financials (13.19 per cent).
Turning to the major indices, the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies index moved down 4.31 per cent to become the worst performer for the month, but the index is still the strongest over the past 12 months with a rise of 24.27 per cent.
The S&P/ASX MidCap 50 and the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries indices were the next worst performers on a monthly basis, falling 1.51 per cent and 1.50 per cent, respectively.
Falls were also seen for the S&P ASX 20 (-1.12 per cent), the S&P/ASX 300 (-0.84 per cent), the S&P/ASX 100 (-0.75 per cent) and the S&P/ASX 50 (-0.62 per cent).
The S&P/ASX 200 is up 10.16 over the year, slightly behind the S&P/ASX 300 (10.17 per cent) and the S&P/ASX 20 (10.51 per cent).
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries index was found to have risen only 2.91 per cent during the past year.
Jon Bragg
Jon Bragg is a journalist for Momentum Media's Investor Daily, nestegg and ifa. He enjoys writing about a wide variety of financial topics and issues and exploring the many implications they have on all aspects of life.
