- There was no RBA Monetary Policy meeting in January. Thus, the overnight cash rate remained unchanged at 2.50%.
- Australian Shares posted a negative return, with the All Ordinaries Price Index and the S&P/ASX 200 Price Index declining -2.76% and 3.03%, respectively.
- Fixed income securities remained steady with the Three Month Bank Bill Swap Rate declining by -0.01%, to finish the month priced at 2.58%.
- 10 Year Australian Bond yields finished the month at 4.00%, representing a -0.24% decline for January.
- Australian Listed Property had a slightly positive month, with the S&P/ASX 300 Property Price Index gaining 0.38%.
- Global equities made a poor start to the year, with all regions falling simultaneously. Japan was the worst performer, falling -6.27%, meanwhile the Hang Seng Index declined -5.45%. The STOXX 50 (Europe) was the best performed region, albeit retracing -1.75%.
- Commodity prices had a positive month with the US$ CRB Spot Commodity Index gaining 0.35%. Gold made some tepid steps towards recovering some of last year’s losses, posting a gain of 3.23%. The oil price retreated slightly with West Texas Intermediate price finishing at 97.49 or down 0.92% for the month.
- The AUD continued its downtrend against most of the major currencies. In particular, the AUD depreciated -1.92% against the USD, -4.91% versus the Yen and -1.15% against the British Pound. On the flipside, the AUD appreciated 0.28% versus the Euro.
- US equity market volatility spiked over 30% with the S&P VIX Index finishing the month at 18.41%.
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Source: Zenith Investment Partners
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