EOFY: The four sectors that delivered positive full-year returns
Just four, representing a quarter of the ASX 200 sectors, saw positive returns during the 2019/20 financial year as markets were hit by the market downturn in early 2020.
While markets performed well during the first half of the financial year, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a hit to markets in March 2020 and led to increased turbulence and volatility for the remainder of the financial year.
The ASX 200 lost 8% during the financial year after being hit with losses of 36% from its February peak to 23 March as a result of the crash, although it had since rebounded, according to FE Analytics data.
Healthcare was the best-performing sector with returns of 26.4% followed by technology at 16.6% and consumer staples at 13%. Consumer discretionary also managed to report a smaller positive return of 3.2%.
The worst-performing sectors were energy which lost 29.3% and financials which lost 22.2%. The pain for energy stocks was caused by the lack of travel and lack of manufacturing as well as a falling oil price as a result of the social distancing and border closures necessitated by COVID-19.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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