Market & Portfolio Update – September 2019
Market & Portfolio Update – September 2019
September was a positive month for most share markets across the world, bouncing back from some softness in August. Markets were supported by the Federal Reserve in the US reducing their cash rate for the second time this year. The Fed is looking to provide some support for their economy with growth slowing recently.
The NZ dollar continued to decline following the 0.50% OCR reduction last month, which will please the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The lower NZ dollar supports NZ exporters and the returns of unhedged overseas investments.
Despite bond yields offsetting part of their recent decline in September, a 0.3% net fall in US 10-year yields over the quarter and a 0.5% fall in NZ has meant that fixed interest securities have performed well.
Disclaimer: This article has been prepared for the purpose of providing general information, without taking into consideration any particular investor’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Any opinions contained in it are held as at the report date and are subject to change without notice.
Market & Portfolio Update - April 2022
Global share markets continued their choppy start to 2022 during April.For New Zealand based investors, a fall in the NZ dollar played an important role in helping offset the volatility global share markets experienced. The NZ dollar fell against most major currencies supporting the returns of unhedged overseas assets (assets that are free to move with exchange rates). As a result, ‘unhedged’ overseas investments fell by only 1.8% for NZ based investors.
The KiwiSaver Gender Divide – Why are women saving less and what can be done to combat this?
Recent data shows that, on average, women have 20% less in their KiwiSavers than men. The gap being at its largest between men and women in their 40s and 50s. There are a few factors that come into play causing this divide and although it will take years to achieve equality, there are ways in which we can be proactive to help close the gap. As of August 2021, the gender pay gap is at 9.1% in New Zealand, a decrease of about 0.4% from 2020’s stats.