Some Optimism on Australian Equities

Australia’s stock market suffered a dismal second quarter, posting its biggest quarterly loss since the third quarter of 2011, but that hasn’t scared off analysts.

For the first six months of 2015, the benchmark S&P ASX 200 index advanced just 0.9 percent after a massive sell-off in May and June erased nearly all of the gains from earlier in the year. In the June quarter, the resource-heavy index fell 7.34 percent, wiping off $162 billion worth of market capitalization – its biggest quarterly loss in 16 quarters – according to data from Credit Suisse.

By comparison, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 5.78 percent in the first half of the year, breaching the 20,000 mark for the first time since 2000, while South Korea’s Kospi index climbed 1.91 percent over the same period. Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite is up around 14 percent, despite a steep and rapid correction which took the benchmark index down to bear market territory last month. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 5.19 percent over the first two quarters of 2015.

CNBC

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