Please click on the link below to see the entire Market Report for April 2012 but 10 key points are:

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept the overnight cash rate steady during April, however a 50 basis point (bp) cut was announced on 1 May.
• The 3 Month Bank Bill Swap Rate declined by 9bp during April, indicating the market’s expectation of short term interest rate cuts. Similar sentiment caused the 10 year bond rate to decline by 41bp.
• Australian Equities prices posted a modest gain, adding 1.07% as measured by the ASX All Ordinaries Index, while the S&P / ASX 200 Index price gained a more notable 1.41%.
• Australian Listed Property recorded strong gains during April, with the price of the S&P / ASX 300 A-REIT Index rising 5.42%.
• Many major regional share markets posted flat or negative returns during April, with the Dow Jones Industrials Index (US) gained 0.01% and the FTSE 100 (UK) declining by 0.53%. The largest gainer was the Hang Send Index (Hong Kong) which reported a price rise of 2.62% while the most significant decliner was the TOPIX (Japan) which lost 5.86%.
• The price of gold declined by a 0.22%, to close 6.46% higher over the past 12 months.
• The price of oil gained 1.80% for the month, but is still down 7.95% over the past year.
• The Australian Dollar recorded varied results against other major currencies in the January quarter, posting a 0.72% gain against the USD, and a 1.59% gain against the Euro (EUR). Currency depreciations were recorded against the GBP, down 0.69%, and the Japanese Yen (JPY), declining 2.96%.
• In absolute terms, the AUD gained 0.13%, as measured by the Trade Weighted Index (TWI).
• Volatility rose by 1.65% during April to end the month priced at 17.15, as measured by the VIX Index.

Click here for a Market Report – 31st March 2012

 Source:       Zenith Investment Partners