• The RBA kept the overnight cash rate steady at 2.50% during the November meeting. The rate was also left unchanged during the December sitting.
• The 3 Month Bank Bill Swap Rate ended November priced at 2.54%, down 3 basis points (bp) from previous month.
• 10 Year Bond Rates rose by 20 bp, ending the month priced at 4.22%.
• Many of the major global equities markets posted positive returns in November. The strongest performer, Japanese TOPIX Price Index rose by 5.39% for the month while the United States’ Dow Jones Industrials Price Index and the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Price Index gained 3.48% and 2.91% respectively.
• The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 Price Index underperformed the broader global equities market, falling by -1.20% for the month.
• Australian equities also had a poor month, with the All Ordinaries Price Index and the S&P/ASX 200 Price Index falling by -1.95% and -1.94% respectively.
• Australian Listed Property followed the broad Australian equities market downtrend, with the S&P/ASX 300 Property Price Index dropping by -2.74% in November.
• Commodities prices had an overall positive month with the US$ CRB Spot Commodity Index gaining 1.29%. However gold and oil prices fell behind, declining by -5.26% and -4.33% respectively (both measured in USD).
• The Australian Dollar depreciated against most major currencies in November. Specifically, it fell by -3.75% against USD, -3.69% against EUR and -5.61% against GBP. The AUD recorded a 30 bp increase against JPY over the month, indicating an even further depreciation of the Japanese Yen.
• US equity market volatility was largely unchanged from the previous month, falling by 5bp in November to the price level of 13.70 as measured by the S&P VIX Index.

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Click here for a Market Report – 31st November 2013

 Source:       Zenith Investment Partners