Australians doubtful over indices future growth
Less than a quarter of Australians expect indices to increase in value over the next 12 months but this remains higher than the global average with less than a third saying they felt Australia had been ‘significantly’ economically impacted by COVID-19.
According to a survey of hedge fund managers and economic experts by IG, 23.5% of respondents in Australia expected indices to rise, 41% expected them to fall and 27% expected to see no change.
This reflected the ASX’s performance over the past year with the market reporting smaller losses than other major markets.
Australians also felt Australia had been less economically affected by COVID-19 with only 31% saying there had been a ‘significant’ economic impact as a result of the pandemic compared to 88% of people in the UK. Just over half of Australians thought there had been a ‘moderate’ impact and 15% cited a ‘minimal’ impact.
Across all the regions surveyed (Australia, UK, Switzerland, Singapore and UAE), just 17% expected indices to rise over the next year and 41% expected them to fall.
The most-negative region was the UK where only 6% of respondents expected indices to rise. The FTSE 100 lost 20% over the past year to 4 November compared to losses of 6% by the ASX 200.
When it came to sectors, Australians were most confident on the technology and healthcare sectors increasing in value with over 60% picking those sectors but over half of respondents also believed airlines would do well.
Some 56% of respondents said they expected airlines to rise in value compared to an average of 50%.
They were most negative on the outlook for oil with 62% expecting companies in that sector would lose value over the next 12 months.
Shares in ASX-listed oil companies such as Woodside Petroleum, Santos and Beach Energy had all fallen significantly over the past year with Beach Energy reporting losses of 47%.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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