1. There was no RBA Monetary Policy meeting in January. However the overnight cash rate has been cut to 2.25% in February.
2. Domestic yields fell further over the month, with the 3 Month Bank Bill Swap Rate and the 10 Year Australian Bond Yield decreasing by -0.17% and -0.38% respectively.
3. The Australian Share Market had a good run over the month, with the All Ordinaries Price and the S&P/ASX 200 Index increasing by 3.02% and 3.28% respectively.
4. Australian Listed Properties continued to outperform the broader equity market, gaining 7.42% in January taking its past year gain to 28.53%.
5. Many global equities markets posted positive returns in January, with Europe increasing 7.16% over the month to be the strongest performing region. U.S. shares underperformed, with the Dow Jones Industrials Index falling by -3.69%.
6. Gold prices in US$ had a good start to the new year, rising by 7.33% in January to bring its past year return back to a positive reading of 2.46%.
7. Oil prices continued to fall over the month, with the Texas Crude Oil US$ Index declining by -9.44%, taking its past year loss to -50.52%. The overall US$ CRB Spot Commodity Price Index fell by -3.50% in January.
8. The Australian Dollar depreciated further against most major currencies over the month. In particular, it fell by -5.13% against the USD, -2.07% versus the GBP and -6.33% against the JPY. The Australian Dollar recorded a 1.82% increase over the EUR, indicating an even further depreciation of the Euro.
9. The Australian Trade Weighted Index (TWI) decreased by -3.91% in January, consistent with the falling exchange rate.
10. The U.S. VIX Index increased by 1.77%, ending the month priced at 20.97.

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Source:       Zenith Investment Partner