The S&P/ASX 200 surged 6.89 per cent in March, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices on the back of strong performance across a number of key sectors.
Information technology was the top performer during the month with a gain of 13.24 per cent followed by energy (9.75 per cent), materials (8.88 per cent), financials (8.53 per cent) and utilities (7.59 per cent).
“A more upbeat rhythm over the last two months means that the Australian bellwether is within striking distance of its August 2021 all-time high, needing just a 2 per cent gain to make a new record closing level,” said S&P Dow Jones Indices senior associate of index investment strategy, Sherifa Issifu.
Every sector was in the black for the month including communication services (5.10 per cent), consumer staples (4.58 per cent), industrials (4.52 per cent), consumer discretionary (4.23 per cent), health care (2.48 per cent) and real estate (1.48 per cent).
March gains also pushed the ASX 200 back into the positive on a quarterly basis, up 2.24 per cent, and the index moved 14.97 per cent higher over the past 12 months.
While IT was last month’s best performer, the sector was down 13.73 per cent for the quarter and is the only sector in the red annually with a decline of 4.91 per cent.
On a quarterly basis, energy has recorded by far the strongest gain of 28.55 per cent, ahead of materials (15.41 per cent), utilities (14.10 per cent) and financials (4.50 per cent).
All other sectors were in the negative for the quarter, most notably health care (-10.10 per cent) and consumer discretionary (-9.58 per cent).
Across all the major indices, the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index delivered the biggest return of 10.64 per cent during March.
This saw the micro-cap index edge into the positive for the quarter (0.24 per cent) while remaining the leader in terms of annual return (39.57 per cent).
For the month, the broader index was slightly outperformed by the S&P/ASX 20 (8.06 per cent), the S&P/ASX 50 (7.12 per cent) and the S&P/ASX 100 (7.11 per cent).
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries index lagged with a return of 5.26 per cent.
