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Month: April 2014

The ASX200 again saw volatility today, trading in a 44pt range only to close +2 points.

After yesterday’s 100 point intraday plunge has the ASX200 we topped?

The ASX200 traded hit its highs early in the session, up 26 points, only to be sold off for the remainder of the day to post a -0.9% decline to 5,487 points. The futures actually fell -96 points intraday.

If you had invested in Australian large resource stocks over recent years the picture is very bleak, even during a commodities boom (the smaller stocks have generally faired worse!). Below illustrates their clear underperformance against the banks since the highs of 2007- 2008, ignoring any dividend returns that clearly favour the banks. Chart 1 illustrates the massive divergence that has occurred over the last few years:

The ASX200 had a choppy session today, closing up 5 points, after hitting an intraday high of +17 points.

Gold is bouncing on Russia-Ukraine tensions. Should we be buying?

The ASX200 closed more-or-less flat on low volumes, adding just 5 points to end +0.1% higher at 5,523.

The Supermarkets are booming, do we take money and run?

The ASX200 continued its recent strength, closing up 38 points or +0.7% at 5,517, led by the banking sector with ANZ again hitting all-time highs +0.9% at $34.59 and WBC +0.9% to $35.62.

Both ANZ and Westpac (WBC) traded at all-time highs yesterday, whilst CBA is my far off. NAB remains the laggard, in line with the last 7 years. Interestingly, I can see NAB being the best performer of the big four over the next 5 years. The price action for the banks is unfolding as I have anticipated, but my next call to start selling down holdings is out of sync with the recent years for the ASX200 and a major portfolio change, as I believe investors will start focusing on increasing interest rates in years ahead. I have been quoting the below repeatedly for the last few weeks:

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