After recording its best ever start to the year in January, the S&P/ASX 200 index suffered a fall of 2.5 per cent in February, according to the latest data from S&P Dow Jones Indices.
February’s decline dragged down the year-to-date gains for the ASX 200 to 3.6 per cent, while Australia’s benchmark index is up 7.2 per cent over the past 12 months.
“S&P/ASX 200 utilities went from being the worst-performing Australian sector in January to the best in February, gaining 3.4 per cent,” said S&P Dow Jones Indices index investment strategy director Benedek Vörös.
“Six out of 11 Australian sectors contributed negatively to February returns, but back-of-the-pack materials was the real villain, plunging 6.6 per cent and responsible for over two-thirds of the S&P/ASX 200’s losses.”
Information technology (2.7 per cent), industrials (1.6 per cent), consumer staples (1.1 per cent), and communication services (0.4 per cent) all contributed positively during the month.
Financials (-3.1 per cent), real estate (-1.0 per cent), energy (-0.8 per cent), health care (-0.4 per cent), and consumer discretionary (-0.29 per cent) all dragged down the index.
Mr Vörös noted that the mid and small caps lagged their blue chip counterparts, with the S&P/ASX MidCap 50 down 3.2 per cent and the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries falling 3.7 per cent.
The S&P/ASX Emerging Companies ended the month 4.2 per cent lower and remains down over the past year (-12.2 per cent) along with the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (-8.0 per cent).
Monthly falls were also seen for the S&P/ASX 20 (-3.2 per cent), S&P/ASX 50 (-2.3 per cent), S&P/ASX 100 (-2.4 per cent), and S&P/ASX 300 (-2.6 per cent).
Additionally, Mr Vörös stated that February was also a “dismal month” for fixed income.
“Only short duration bills finished the month in the black in both Australia and New Zealand, while the biggest losses were to be found among inflation-linked bonds in both countries, with the S&P/ASX Government Inflation-Linked Bond 0+ Index falling 2.2 per cent while the S&P/NZX Inflation-Indexed Government Bonds Index gave up 3.8 per cent in February,” he said.
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.
