For the month of March and the quarter, there were few positives from such a miserable time – the worst since 1987.
Practically every sector bar supermarkets, took a pounding. Travel, media, oil and gas, mining, technology, financials such as the big banks were whacked.
There were a handful of casualties, especially in travel and media and the stocks involved – Flight Centre, Webjet, oOh!Media, Southern Cross Media asked for their shares to be suspended while they looked to try and find new funds, cost cuts or both.
oOh!Media came up with a $167 million funding raising and $30 million-plus in cost cuts and staff losses.
One stock that stood out was a big surprise – Metcash usually the third wheel in food retailing (behind Woolies and Coles) outperformed its bigger rivals easily.
It saw a super surge in its share price. The shares ended up 21.5% for March and 22.5% for the quarter, meaning a 46% relative outperformance to the rest of the ASX 200. The shares dripped 3.6% on Tuesday so the gains would have been a bit bigger but for that.
Another that stood out as well was a2 milk – the shares rose 2.9% in March and 16% for the quarter, meaning an outperformance of the ASX 200 by a considerable amount – 40% in the case of the quarter.
CSL was another rare positive – down 5.2% for March but still 7.6% ahead for the quarter. That would have been higher but for the 5.1% drop in Tuesday’s volatile session that ended with the market down 2%.
Coles ended in a similar position – a gain that would have been more but for the slump on Tuesday. The shares rose 0.2% in the month and 2.16% for the quarter – but was clipped by the near 10% slide on Tuesday.
Woolies shares would have had a positive March and quarter as well but for the 7.8% slide on Tuesday. That left the retailer’s shares with a loss of 7.6% for the month and just 2.9% for the quarter.
Myer was a disaster area with its share losing 60% of their value in the month and 70% for the quarter – it would have been more but for the 21% jump on Tuesday.
Premier Investments, which owns 10.7% of Myer, didn’t escape – its shares fell 24.7% for the month and 34% for the quarter. Those falls were cut by a 10.8% gain on Tuesday.
For the rest of the ASX it was disaster area – just looking at the banks the CBA fell 21.8% in March and 22.6% for the quarter, NAB fell 30.8% and 32.3%, Westpac shares slid 28.1% and 31.9% and ANZ shares dropped 29.3% and 31.1%.
These huge losses for the market’s core sector help explain the 24% plunge for the quarter.
Macquarie shares also took a pounding – down 36.9% for March and 37.8% for the quarter.
Seeing the bank closed its 2019-20 books yesterday, the instability and plunge in March might have generated more income for the trading business, but the high share and bond holdings were hit hard and mark to market losses will wreak havoc.
The bank reports its results in about a month’s time and the figures won’t be pretty.
BHP shares lost 14.7% in March and 25.5% for the quarter, but Rio Tinto did better with a monthly loss of just 4.7% and 15.7% for the quarter. Fortescue shares were up 5.6% in March but lost 6.4% for the quarter.
Iron ore prices, while firm for most of the quarter, lost around 12% with a solid fall in the final days of March.
Newcrest Mining, the leading gold miner saw its shares down 15% for the month and nearly 24% for the quarter, and wasn’t such a ’safe haven’ as some investors might have assumed.
With the oil price and volume war sending global prices plunging, local oil stocks naturally took hiding – Woodside lost 35% for March and 47% for the quarter, Santos shares slumped 51% and 58% respectively.
Beach Energy shares dropped 35% and 54% and Oil Search shares shed 56% and 67% as the oil war between Russia, Saudi Arabia and US oil frackers pushed oil prices to 18-year lows. LNG prices followed and there is now a rising glut of gas to further depress prices.
Qantas shares shed 38% of their value in March and more than 54% for the quarter as it, Virgin Australia, Rex and Air New Zealand, plus the entire travel sector became one of the two sectors most damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Retailing was the other).
Among the techs, Afterpay was a highflier brought back to earth by the market slump – its shares plunged 45.7% in March and nearly 36% for the quarter.
A more soundly-based tech higher flyer, Xero, saw its shares drop 15% for the month and quarter. WiseTech Global was shaken by a 20.6% fall in March and a much larger 48% slump for the quarter.
Media stocks also took a hiding – Nine Entertainment shares fell 28% and 36% after a 9% rise on Tuesday. Seven West Media’s woes were well known before the virus erupted, but the shares still fell to a series of all time lows, losing 48% in March and 76% of their value in the quarter.
Surprisingly Southern Cross Media was the big victim of the sector with its shares suspended while it tries to find a way to survive. Its shares dropped 77% in March before he suspension two weeks ago and lost 80% in the quarter.
The Murdoch empire didn’t escape – News Corp’s US listed B class voting shares fell 27% in March and nearly 39% for the quarter.
One surprisingly good performance (relative to the 24% slump in the market in the quarter), was ASX Ltd – its shares were only down 1.7% for the quarter and rose 3.9% in March. Go figure.
