The S&P/ASX Australian Index Series has played a significant role in characterizing the Australian equity market performance since its inception in April 2000. Since then, the S&P/ASX 200 has served as the foundation for benchmarks and index-based investing strategies from sectors to quality, value, and momentum factor approaches. Following the launch of the S&P 500® Read more […]
The S&P/ASX 200 is widely regarded as the institutional investable benchmark in Australia. It is composed of the largest 200 companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange by float-adjusted market capitalization. Although the majority of the companies are domiciled in Australia, a lot of them derive a significant portion of their revenue from foreign markets. Read more […]
The SPIVA® Australia Scorecard reports on the performance of actively managed Australian mutual funds against their respective benchmark indices over various investment horizons. In the year-end 2017 report, we extended the analysis to 15 years. In 2017, the majority of Australian funds in most categories underperformed their respective benchmarks, apart from the Australian A-REIT category. Read more […]
When one is paying management fees for the investment in active funds, one might reasonably expect the funds to outperform benchmarks and resist downturn when the market is volatile. However, results from our S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA®) Scorecards[1] suggest this expectation is often not met. SPIVA reports across different regions, including the U.S., Canada, Read more […]
The Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) landscape in Australia continues to grow and mature in assets under management (AUM) and in number of ETF products offered. As of June 2015, the Australian ETF Market was reported to be at A$18.1 Billion in AUM and 107 ETFs traded on the ASX. As an index provider with deep Read more […]
This week I am in Australia meeting with investors about commodities. Usually when I visit a heavy natural resource producing country, the conversations flow easily since the locals understand commodities. We have been discussing farms, coal, iron ore and tin – subjects that engulf the culture of the locals. The Australians seem to know all Read more […]
Indexing is an investment approach which simply tracks an index to provide exposure to a market or segment of a market. For the three reasons listed below, it may be a viable complement or substitute to actively managed investments. Firstly, indices outperform the majority of actively managed funds. The SPIVA Australia Scorecard, which is published Read more […]
