April was a fairly average month for Australian investors, as the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) fell nearly 1.5% over the month led by declines in healthcare stocks and the banks.
ResMed Inc. (CHESS) (ASX: RMD) led the way with a 12% fall, while Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH) was a close second, recording a 10% fall. The major banks fell between 5% and 7%, with hospital operators Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) and Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) performing just as poorly.
10 Big Winners
The big winners in the month of April were investors in Australia's big mining and resources companies following a bounce in oil and iron ore prices from multi-year lows.
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) (up 25%) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) (up 21%) were the only two large cap stocks to return more than 20% for the month, while three others recorded over 10%.
Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) and Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) shares both surged over 16%, while gold miner Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) rebounded from a terrible March to deliver an 11% return.
Utilities provider APA Group (ASX: APA) put in another good month, returning over 7% to take its three-month share price surge to over 18%.
Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) did the same, jumping ANOTHER 6.5% to take its three-month gain over 30% and six-month rise to over 100%!
Rounding out the top-10 were BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP), QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) and Orica Ltd (ASX: ORI), which were all able to extend their three-month gains beyond 10%, in line with the S&P/ASX 200.
May's Top Picks
The direction of the market appears to be heavily influenced by the direction of the Australian dollar, interest rates, and commodity prices. Economists are predicting another drop in the local interest rate on Tuesday, which should push the Australian dollar down, however it's always difficult to precisely predict what will happen.
The biggest concern for many investors at the moment though, is the fact that we haven't seen a 10% correction in the sharemarket in a very long time (I couldn't find one on my Google Finance chart).
