Domestic Shares - Fare thee well, annus horribilis

Over the past year the ASX200 Index is slightly down, but Resources and Energy are down 25% to 35%. Every other sector is up. Last month the bifurcation in returns stretched, again, to a record extent, as has been the case for several months through 2015. Many sectors are now at or close to 40 year extremes as a proportion of the market – all the QE recipients and financial asset traders (Healthcare, Financials, Utilities) to the upside and many hard asset traders or producers (Energy, Metals and Mining, Consumer) to the downside. If bonds are indeed expensive, and interest rates rise through 2016, then the extreme sectoral performance of the ASX through recent years is highly unlikely to recur. In “Taking Stock - Fare thee well, annus horribilis” (VIEW LINK) Andrew Fleming, Deputy Head of Australian Equities, bids farewell to 2015.