Winners and losers in the Australian share market in 2012

Nov. 29, 2012 - PRLog -- Despite the continuing uncertainty in the global economic scene, Australian financial stocks emerged as the winners and biggest gainers in the domestic share market. The healthcare sector finished second best with the major stocks registering an average of 41 per cent as a group.

On the other hand, it came as no surprise that the Materials sector, dominated by resources and mining companies, ended at the lower end of the heap to finish as one of the poorest performing sectors for the year. Thanks mainly to the fall in iron ore prices and slowing demand from China, which affected big and small mining companies alike.

“It has definitely been an interesting market over the past year.  The ASX 200 has mostly been sideways, but has managed to push through to new yearly highs in October,” said Justine Pollard, trader and trading mentor at Smart Trading.

According to Mrs Pollard, the ASX 200 Index (which closed at 4056 level at the end of 2011) rose steadily from January to May 2012 and gained 392 points over that five-month period.

“That was a nice and gradual climb, but the market hit a resistance level around the 4450 mark. We saw a huge drop in June when the market lost 10 per cent in value in a short period of time,” Mrs Pollard said.

“We’ve definitely been affected by what’s going on in Europe – with a lot of uncertainties rearing its head again and again over the year. Plus, the China factor proved to be a heavy weight that pushed down resources and mining stocks.”

Using her technical analysis, Mrs Pollard noted that the local market had bounced back from its June low and have pushed through the 4450 resistance level.  From June to October the ASX 200 Index has registered one of its largest gains, when it rose 15 per cent in value.

“In a snapshot, the market’s biggest losing period was between May and June where it fell 10 per cent in value. Its biggest rise was from June to October, where it rose 15 per cent in value,” Mrs Pollard said.

Biggest gainers from the top 100 stocks that rose over 25 per cent in value this year are can be seen from the table below.

ASX 100 outperforming stocks in order of percentage gain:
Security Name    Code    Sector    Close 30/12/11    Close 23/11    % gain
REGIS RESOURCES    RRL    Materials    3.38    5.48    62%
GOODMAN GROUP    GMG    Financials    2.85    4.59    61%
GRAINCORP LIMITED    GNC    Consumer Staple    7.6572    12.2    59%
RESMED INC     RMD    Healthcare    2.47    3.87    57%
CALTEX AUSTRALIA    CTX    Energy    11.77    17.85    52%
INSURANCE AUSTRALIA     IAG    Financials    2.98    4.45    49%
CSL LIMITED    CSL    Healthcare    32    47.36    48%
TREASURY WINE ESTATE     TWE    Consumer Staple    3.68    5.15    40%
WESTFIELD GROUP      WDC    Financials    7.81    10.44    34%
NEWS CORP    NWS    Consumer Disc.    17.94    23.72    32%
RAMSAY HEALTH CARE    RHC    Healthcare    19.28    25.33    31%
MACQUARIE GROUP LTD    MQG    Financials    23.79    31.07    31%
JAMES HARDIE INDUST     JHX    Materials    6.82    8.8    29%
TELSTRA CORPORATION    TLS    Telecommunications    3.33    4.27    28%
SYD AIRPORT  STAPLED    SYD    Industrials    2.66    3.4    28%
PRIMARY HEALTH CARE     PRY    Healthcare    3.08    3.93    28%
ARISTOCRAT LEISURE    ALL    Consumer Disc.    2.2    2.78    26%
CENTRO RETAIL AUST     CRF    Financials    1.715    2.15    25%
WESTPAC BANKING CORP    WBC    Financials    20    24.94    25%

As you can see from the above chart the strong sectors that dominated were the Financials, closely followed by the Healthcare sector.  

GIC Outperforming Sectors  

Sector Name    Code    Close 30/12/11    Close 23/11/12    % gain
S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Sector Index    XHJ    7987.633    10643.63    33%
S&P/ASX 200 Telecommunications Services     XTJ    1135.543    1458.943    28%
S&P/ASX 200 Real Estate Investment Trusts In    XPJ    777.522    963.888    24%
S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Sector Index    XSJ    7333.106    8598.41    17%
S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Sector In    XIJ    498.519    583.046    17%
S&P/ASX 200 Financials Sector Index    XFJ    3905.95    4529.148    16%
S&P/ASX 200 Financials-x-REITs Sector Index    XXJ    4505.414    5154.58    14%
S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Sector In    XDJ    1172.717    1285.582    10%
S&P/ASX 200 Utilities Sector Index    XUJ    4544.36    4967.922    9%
S&P/ASX 200 Industrials Sector Index    XNJ    3337.762    3298.719    -1%
S&P/ASX 200 Materials Sector Index    XMJ    10492.61    9909.006    -6%
S&P/ASX 200 Energy Sector Index    XEJ    12743.22    12017.11    -6%

Healthcare was the biggest out performing sector and this was due to strong rises in Resmed, CSL, Ramsay Health Care and Primary Healthcare.  

Likewise, the Telecommunications sector was the second strongest sector, rising 28 per cent in value, this was all attributed to the 28 per cent rise in Telstra, which is the dominating stock out of the 5 shares that make up this sector.

The under-performing shares from the ASX 100, which fell over 25 per cent in value include:

ASX 100 under performing stocks in order of percentage fall:
Security Name    Code    Sector    Close 30/12/11    Close 23/11    % fall
BOART LONGYEAR    BLY    Industrials    2.78    1.26    -55%
ILUKA RESOURCES    ILU    Materials    15.5    7.88    -49%
ATLAS IRON LIMITED     AGO    Materials    2.7    1.385    -49%
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LTD    SWM    Consumer Disc.    3.0401    1.57    -48%
WHITEHAVEN COAL    WHC    Energy    4.8515    2.81    -42%
FAIRFAX MEDIA LTD     FXJ    Consumer Disc.    0.72    0.43    -40%
PALADIN ENERGY LTD      PDN    Energy    1.37    0.88    -36%
SIMS METAL MGMT LTD     SGM    Materials    12.65    8.51    -33%
LYNAS CORPORATION     LYC    Materials    1.045    0.72    -31%
OZ MINERALS    OZL    Materials    10.01    7.12    -29%

The Materials sector dominated the shares that have fallen in value, which was one of the poorest performing sectors for the year, along with the Energy sector.  Both fell 6 per cent in value.

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