Australian Stock Market Worst Return In 26 Years

The Australian Stock Market experienced its worst return for 26 years for the 12 months ending June 30. Australia's All Ordinaries Index lost more than 15% for the 2007/2008 year.

The chart below shows the movement of the All Ordinaries Index during the year.

Australian Stock Market Performance for 2007/2008

As you can see, the market tried valiantly to recover from the low point in March and was looking good until mid May when the wheels fell off again. But what does all of this mean for the average Australian investor?

Less Than Super Returns...

Perhaps the broadest impact will be to everybody's superannuation balances. As we all start to receive our superannuation statements in the mail for the past year, there will be a fair amount of disappointment. We aren't used to getting negative returns. Depending on the investment option chosen, you may experience anything from low single digit negative returns right up to double digit percentage losses.

Value Investor's Paradice?

For those investors among us with a value bias, the Australian stockmarket hasn't looked this attractive in years. After a prolonged period of strong sharemarket price growth, the past 6 months has thrown up plenty of bargains. And not just the minnows - blue chip stocks as well. The financial sector with banks in particular are presenting some good value but price weakness is not limited to this sector.

The pain has continued since the close of the financial year as well. The following chart shows the performance of the All Ordinaries over the past week.

All Ordinaries This Week

As you can see, after the close of the financial year on Monday, the index continued to fall throughout the week with the exception of today.