Global markets were relatively flat overnight in quiet trading given US markets were closed for Martin Luther King day.
For the US market it has been a rip-roaring +4.2% start to 2018, the best start to the year since 1964, while the Australian market is slightly higher (+0.2%). At the same time, the NZ market is down -2.2% year to date, however we would place this in context of a market which has just experienced a +22% year. There has likely been some profit-taking in NZ and some commentators also point out that the recent spike in the NZ dollar makes it more likely offshore funds will also be taking profits.
In our year ahead report published yesterday we outlined that given the starting point, we would be very surprised to see anywhere near a +22% return repeated for the NZX in 2018 and we expect the ASX to outperform the NZX. The ove...
Stock Markets, Simplified.