Share market investors who kept their nerve and resisted the desire to run for the exit during the “Liberation Day”-induced sell-off mid-April were rewarded for their bravery with the ASX 200 ending the year 16% higher.
With less than two hours of trading left for FY25, the ASX200 traded up 10.24% over one year – its biggest single return since COVID - and a record high at 8,562 points.
But while the market has weathered major headwinds over the last 12 months, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s off-again and on-again trade tariffs, Middle-East and Ukraine wars, plus oil’s spike above US$80/barrel, not all sectors basked in the share markets' recovery.
Six top performing sectors
While six of the ASX’s 11 main sectors delivered positive returns, five posted returns close to or above 20%.
Given that the ‘big four’ banks alone account for between 20-25% of the ASX200 index, it’s hardly surprising that financials (XFJ) was last year’s top performing sector, up 24.95%.
While ANZ Bank (ASX: ANZ) was a notable outlier, up only 3.47%, the remaining top 6 banks were up 10%-plus with standouts Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) and Westpac (ASX: WBC), and Bank of Queensland (ASX: BOQ) up 46%, 25%, and 34% respectively.
Beyond financials, three other sectors - IT (XIJ), communication services (XJT), and industrials (XNJ) delivered 20%-plus returns last year of 24.60%, 23.53% and 21.82% respectively.
Meanwhile, the Real estate (XRE) and consumer discretionary (XDJ) sectors returned 10.16% and 17.82% respectively; the top five standout large caps within these two sectors were:
Real Estate: Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC) 73%, Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX) 34%, Abacus Storage King (ASX:ASK) 33%, Stockland (ASX: SGP) 28%, and Charter Hall Long Wale REIT (ASX: CLW) 26%.
Consumer discretionary: Temple & Webster Group (ASX: TPW) 128%, JB Hi Fi (ASX: JBH) 80%, Supply Network (ASX: SNL) 67%, Eagers Automotive (ASX:APE) 66%, and Nick Scali (ASX: NCK) 31%.
Five non-performing sectors
When it came to sector by sector performance it was a case of all or nothing.
For example, while all sectors delivered black ink in FY25 delivered returns above 10%, the five non-performing sectors produced negative returns. These include:
Energy (XEJ) down 13.52: Biggest large cap losers - Energy Resources of Australia (ASX:ERA) -72%, Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) -28%, and New Hope Corp (ASX: NHC) -24%.
Materials (XMJ) down 6.29%: Biggest large cap losers – Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) -56%, Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) – 41%, Fortescue (ASX: FMG) -28%.
Healthcare (XHJ) down 5.99%: Biggest large cap losers - Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX: NEU) -33%, CSL (ASX: CSL) -18%, and Cochlear (ASX: COH) -9.55%.
Consumer Staples (XSJ) down 2.09%: Biggest large cap losers - Treasury Wine Estates (ASX: TWE) -37%, Elders (ASX: ELD) -21.6%, and Endeavour Group (ASX: EDV) -20%.
Utilities (XUJ) down 1.55%: Biggest large cap losers – AGL Energy (ASX: AGL) -10%, Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX: MEZ) -6.41%, Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX: MCY) -6.40%, and Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) -0.65%.
Where to from here?
While the outlook for shares in FY26 is mixed, VanEck’s managing director Arian Neiron expects the market to remain range bound for the next three to six months.
Meantime, while shares have climbed a wall of worry over the last six months - with Trump trying to upset the global trading system with big tariff hikes – Shane Oliver chief economist at AMP expects the near-term outlook for shares to remain messy.
He expects volatility to remain high with U.S. and Australian shares still looking expensive.
Oliver also points to Trump’s lingering tariff threat which will likely increase again with the 9 July tariff deadline rapidly approaching.
“Shares should benefit on a 6-12 month view as Trump pivots towards more market friendly policies, the Fed starts cutting rates again along with ongoing rate cuts from other central banks including the RBA and the threat to oil prices from conflict with Iran remains contained at least for a while.”
ASX 200 Top 10
Regis Resources: up 150%
Genesis Minerals: up 147%
Austal up 144%
Sigma Healthcare: up 131%
Temple & Webster: up 124%
Technology One: up 117%
Evolution Mining: up 116%.
Generation Development: up 109%
Zip Co: up 107%
Capricorn Metals: up 103%
ASX 200 Bottom 10
IDP Education: down 75%
Mineral Resources: down 60%
Pilbara Minerals; down 55%
Clarity Pharmaceuticals: down 53%.
Polynovo: down 51%
Bellevue Gold: down 49%
Nufarm: down 47%
Domino’s Pizza: down 46%
Web Travel Group: down 44%
Lifestyle Communities: down 44%
