Daytrading July 17 Afternoon

Afternoon to you all
thanks HLL and GT

The XAO as I write is pretty much at break even having had a small burst at open, which was then met with the typical Friday profit takers followed by the "buy the dip" brigade who pushed it back up to breakeven. Bit of an ordinary finish to the week, however there is still good opportunity to be had in the more glamorous spec end that entertains most of us.

12:11pm: CommSec is celebrating its 20th anniversary and has put out some interesting 'then and now' factoids to show how the ecomomy and financial markets have changed over the past two decades. Here are a few:

• In 2014/15, total returns on Australian shares (All Ords Accumulation index) grew by 5.7 per cent. Returns on dwellings lifted by 14.1 per cent while returns on government bonds rose by 5.8 per cent. At face value this suggested a relatively rare event – bonds, property and shares all rising over the past year.
• But back in 1994/95, total returns on Australian shares grew by 6.4 per cent with returns on dwellings up by 2.3 per cent while returns on government bonds rose by 11.7 per cent. And the average cash rate was 6.6 per cent compared with 2.4 per cent in 2014/15.
• Over the past six years, returns on shares grew on average by 10.4 per cent, firmer than the 8.9 per cent annual average rate back in 1994/95.
• Share ownership peaked in 2004 with 55 per cent of Australians estimated to have owned shares at that time. Direct ownership has since fallen from 44 per cent of Australians to 33 per cent while indirect ownership has fallen from 32 per cent to 10 per cent.
• In late 1995, the fore-runner of BHP Billiton, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP), was the largest company on the Australian sharemarket, ahead of News Corp and National Australia Bank. There were three mining companies in the top 10 companies with four banks, a media company, paper manufacturer and soft drink producer.
• In 2015, there are now five banks in the top 10 companies, but only one mining company, one telco, one supermarket retailer, one biotechnology company and one conglomerate (Wesfarmers).

Interesting reading, have a good afternoon all and a great weekend.


All the best

and

Do your best!

​