The S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.2 per cent in March, according to the latest data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, but still ended the first quarter up by 3.5 per cent.
The dominant financials sector had the largest negative impact on Australia’s benchmark index during the month, falling by 4.9 per cent, while the real estate (-6.5 per cent), energy (-1.5 per cent), and information technology (-0.3 per cent) sectors also lagged.
Materials was March’s best performer with a 5.9 per cent gain, followed by communication services (3.4 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.7 per cent), and utilities (1.5 per cent).
Meanwhile, the consumer staples (0.5 per cent), industrials (0.3 per cent), and healthcare (0.1 per cent) sectors all posted small upwards changes for the month.
“S&P/ASX 200 consumer discretionary was the best performing sector in Q1, up 11.4 per cent, while financials are down 2.7 per cent,” commented Benedek Vörös, director, index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Energy was the only other negative sector for the quarter (-1.0 per cent), but Mr Vörös noted that the real estate sector just narrowly escaped closing Q1 in the red with its 0.1 per cent lift.
After consumer discretionary, communication services (9.4 per cent), information technology (8.1 per cent), materials (7.7 per cent), and consumer staples were the next best performers, followed by industrials (6.7 per cent), health care (3.7 per cent), and utilities (1.8 per cent).
“Mid and small caps have lagged their blue chip peers both in March and in Q1, as the S&P/ASX MidCap 50 is flat and the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries is up 1.9 per cent YTD,” said Mr Vörös.
The S&P/ASX MidCap 50 index was down by 2.5 per cent in March, falling further than the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries index, which was down by 0.7 per cent.
On a monthly basis, small rises were seen across both the S&P/ASX 20 (0.1 per cent) and the S&P/ASX 50 (0.2 per cent), while the S&P/ASX 100, the S&P/ASX 300, and the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies were all down by around 0.2 per cent.
Quarterly, the S&P/ASX 50 (4.1 per cent) and the S&P/ASX 100 (3.5 per cent) both performed slightly better than the S&P/ASX 200, while the S&P/ASX 20 (3.4 per cent), S&P/ASX 300 (3.3 per cent) performed slightly worse.
S&P Dow Jones Indices also noted that fixed income had recorded a “stellar month and quarter” with the S&P/ASX Government Inflation-Linked Bond 0+ Index up by 7.0 per cent in Q1.
