The S&P/ASX 200 surged by 6.2 per cent in January, according to the latest data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, marking the index’s best start to the year since its launch in 2000.
January 2023 was also the best month for the S&P/ASX 200 since March 2022, when the benchmark index increased by nearly 7 per cent.
“The S&P/ASX 200 consumer discretionary was the star performer among Australian sectors this month, surging 9.9 per cent, while at the back of the pack, utilities shed 3.0 per cent,” said S&P Dow Jones Indices index investment strategy director Benedek Vörös.
“Ten out of 11 Australian sectors contributed positively to January returns, with materials responsible for over a third of the S&P/ASX 200’s gain.”
The materials sector ranked second to consumer discretionary during the month with a return of 8.9 per cent, ahead of real estate (8.1 per cent), consumer staples (5.9 per cent), information technology (5.6 per cent), and financials (5.6 per cent).
Next up was communication services (5.3 per cent), which was followed by the industrials (4.75 per cent), health care (3.94 per cent), and energy (1.28 per cent) sectors.
Over the past three months, the materials and utilities sectors have recorded the biggest gains, rising by 25.6 per cent and 15.9 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy is the only S&P/ASX 200 sector to be in the red over the same period with a fall of 0.2 per cent.
S&P Dow Jones Indices reported that mid-caps slightly lagged their large- and small-cap counterparts during January, with the S&P/ASX MidCap 50 up by 6.0 per cent compared to 6.3 per cent for the S&P/ASX 50 and 6.6 per cent for the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries.
The S&P/ASX Emerging Companies index posted an even higher gain of 7.2 per cent for the month. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 20 was up by 6.6 per cent, the S&P/ASX 50 grew by 6.3 per cent, the S&P/ASX 100 increased 6.3 per cent and the S&P/ASX 300 gained 6.6 per cent.
“It was a great month for fixed income, too,” Mr Vörös added.
“Inflation-linked bonds provided the highest returns in both Australia and New Zealand with the S&P/ASX Government Inflation-Linked Bond 0+ Index climbing 5.0 per cent while the S&P/NZX Inflation-Indexed Government Bonds Index gaining 3.6 per cent in January.”
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.
