The S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.18 per cent in August, according to data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, on the back of a strong month for the energy and materials sectors.
After July’s rebound of 5.75 per cent, which came after three consecutive months of losses, the benchmark index is now up by 7 per cent for the third quarter.
“Another 4 per cent is required to bring the benchmark back into the black for 2022,” said S&P Dow Jones Indices index investment strategy director, Benedek Vörös.
“The S&P/ASX 200 Energy was the star performer amongst Australian sectors in August, jumping 8 per cent and thereby extending its year-to-date gains to 44 per cent.”
The materials sector was the next best performer in August, rising by more than 4 per cent, while communication services (2.55 per cent), industrials (1.23 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.95 per cent) and health care (0.42 per cent) all ended the month higher.
Real estate was the weakest sector, falling by 3.23 per cent to be down 16.73 per cent year-to-date. Other sectors in the red for the month were consumer staples (-1.82 per cent), utilities (-1.61 per cent), financials (-0.63 per cent) and information technology (-0.07 per cent).
Behind energy, utilities has had the strongest gains year-to-date and is up 17.78 per cent, while information technology is the biggest laggard with a year-to-date fall of 27.66 per cent.
The S&P/ASX MidCap 50 jumped by 4.16 per cent and was by the far the best performer among the major local indices in August, ahead of the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies index (1.69 per cent) and the S&P/ASX 100 (1.25 per cent).
The performance of the S&P/ASX 300 mirrored the S&P/ASX 200 with a 1.18 per cent gain, while the S&P/ASX 20 (0.83 per cent), S&P/ASX 50 (0.79 per cent) and S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (0.58 per cent) all performed slightly worse.
Year-to-date, the S&P/ASX 20 has recorded the smallest dip of 1.00 per cent, while both the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies (-16.21 per cent) and the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (-14.53 per cent) have suffered double-digit losses.
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.
