After staging a rapid recovery in recent weeks, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) took a slight breather over the last five trading days as it retreated 0.6% or 33.9 points to end the week at 5,404.8.
After a solid earnings season from some of Australia's largest companies, caution spread as investors feared a possible correction. Some analysts have even suggested that a correction of a few hundred points could be on the cards. Investors continued to dissect earnings reports and also showed higher levels of anxiety as the market awaited the release of China's official manufacturing data and any further developments in the Ukraine.
Here are some of the week's worst performers:
- Boart Longyear Ltd (ASX: BLY) plunged 28.2%, taking its monthly decline to 35.1%
- Bradken Limited (ASX: BKN) declined 8.1%
- Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) plummeted 9.6%
- Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) lost 12.8%
- Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR) dropped 14.7%
- iSelect Ltd (ASX: ISU) decreased in value by 11.1%
- Mermaid Marine Australia Limited (ASX: MRM) dived 16.2%
- Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) nosedived 6.8%
- Wotif.com Holdings Limited (ASX: WTF) lost 7.9%
- Pacific Brands Limited (ASX: PBG) declined 10.4%
Although the overall market dropped for the week, there were a number of companies which posted big gains.
- QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) jumped 10.1%
- Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) grew 8.8%
- Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN) boomed 23.8%
- Select Harvests Limited (ASX: SHV) rose 10.1%
- Transfield Services Limited (ASX: TSE) increased by 11.3%
- Whitehaven Coal Limited (ASX: WHC) burst 9.3%
- Cabcharge Australia Limited (ASX: CAB) taxied 7.7%
Foolish takeaway
While some analysts have put their bear suits on, I am still bullish on the direction of the Australian market. Sure, it could fall in the short term, but the strong earnings results show that the outlook is certainly improving and that now is a perfect time to be buying stocks.
