Investors have been given the opportunity to catch their breath today following weeks of heavy falls with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) jumping 0.8% to 5,653 points.
As was the case yesterday afternoon, it is Australia's healthcare stocks driving the market higher today led by companies such as Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL), Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH), Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) and Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL).
Cochlear was the big winner, gaining another 5.9%, while the other three rose between 1.6% and 2.2% each. Sonic Healthcare jumped 2.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 Health Care (Index: ^AXHJ) (ASX: XHJ) index as a whole is trading 2% higher.
It was a nice change of pace for the Big Four banks, as well. While all four banks are still trading well below their recent highs, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) managed to rise 1.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) bucked the trend to trade 0.6% lower.
Is now the time to buy?
While US equity markets have soared to fresh all-time highs, the Australian sharemarket has gone in the opposite direction. It hit a low of 5,574 points during Wednesday's session after having almost breached the 6,000 point mark less than a month ago – a nearly 7% turnaround.
S&P/ASX 200's 12-month performance. Source: Yahoo! Finance
Indeed, these periods of volatility can prove terrifying for investors who had become so used to watching their portfolios increase in value over the last several years.
Long-time followers of The Motley Fool will know that we don't aim to time the market (in fact, it's a 'strategy' that we often criticise), but we do have to recognise opportunities when they come our way. With the ASX having fallen so heavily in such a short period of time, now could actually be an excellent time to pick up shares in high-quality companies at reasonable prices.
