Shareswatch Australia

It’s now been a year since I last reviewed the Shareswatch Random Stocks Portfolio during which time the S&P/ASX 200 has slid  from around 4700 points to where it is today at around 4200 points.  Again it will be interesting to see how the portfolio has fared against the ASX 200 Index and if there are any surprises in terms of how the stocks have performed.

Australian stocks seem to be enjoying a broad rally today and I suspect the mainstream financial media will churn out bullish sounding headlines when the market closes.  But if we step back and review a few charts it’s pretty clear that the Australian stock market is stuck in a rut and I don’t see it breaking free any time soon.

An extended stock market market downturn such as the one we are experiencing now provides long term investors with an opportunity to gauge how well companies have been able to deal with harsh economic conditions.  So today let’s have a look at four consumer spending related Australian listed companies and see how they have fared over the last five years.

Another week is over and the ASX All Ordinaries Index has finished just above 4600 and the S&P/ASX Index just below 4600.  Here we are again at the bottom end of a fairly narrow trading range in which the Australian stock market has traded within for more than a year. It’s enough to make you sleepy.

Now that the ASX All Ordinaries Index has broken through and closed above 5000, more than a few market watchers seem to be quite bullish about the prospects for the Australian stock market.  But will the share market rally from here or will another correction roll along and push it below 5000 yet again?

After some promising gains in the first part of 2010 the Australian stock market closed down today to finish the year basically unchanged. In plain English the share market essentially did nothing in 2010 and so if the Australian economy is really booming, then this is not being reflected in the performance of the ASX All Ordinaries or S&P/ASX 200.

It has been a while since I have looked at the 52 week prices for some widely held ASX stocks, but now that the stock market has taken a bit of a tumble over the last week or so it seems like a pretty good time to have a look at them again. Have stocks hit new lows or have we simply seen some heat taken out of the market?

Now that it appears we are in the midst of the long awaited stock market correction it seems an ideal time to check how the 52 week stock prices have been tracking for a number of ASX listed stocks as this may tell us if the rally of the last 7 months is running out of steam.

The Australian stock market has recovered from what appears to have been the bottom of the bear market back in March, so now seems a good time to look at some stock prices and see if they are creeping up to their 52 week highs or still near their lows.

Since April the Random Portfolio has continued to slowly rise in value but has yet to remain in the black for an extended period of time. However there are a number of stocks in the portfolio which have performed extremely well and these prove that even in the worst of bear markets,  money can still be made from investing in stocks.

The current economic downturn has taken a lot of the focus off soft commodities, but if you believe that over the long term that prices for wheat, cotton and beef etc. will rise again than investing in quality farmland may be good investment option. One way investors can do this is via a recently listed company: Prime Ag Australia Limited.

In bear markets we often hear a lot about so called defensive stocks, but what exactly are defensive stocks and are the traditional defensive stocks still a good option in this particular bear market?

In Part 1, I looked at the 52 week high and low prices for a few financial stocks and of course, these companies have seen their stock prices slashed. But surely if the market is being hit by issues related to the credit crisis then there must be some sectors, like food for example, that have held up rather well. (as long as the company involved does not have large amounts of debt)