It's no secret by now that the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX XO) has just finished off one of its best months in history. The ASX 200 gained more than 11% over the month, far more than what it averages in returns every year.
Since the banking sector makes up a massive proportion of the overall ASX 200 (the big four's weightings alone account for ~20% of the ASX 200), one might assume it's been a good month for ASX banks too. And that assumption would be correct. So let's have a look at how the big four ASX banks performed over November, and which one came out on top.
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Making bank in November
Let's start with the 'big dog' – Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). CBA shares closed at $69.02 on Friday 30 October, and finished up yesterday at a price of $79.57. That's a gain of 15.29% – not bad at all for a month's work. Incidentally, CBA's steller November has seen it return to the top of the ASX 200 totem pole, displacing CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), which had occupied the throne for most of 2020.
Turning to National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), and we can see that NAB shares started the month priced at $18.60. Since the NAB share price closed at $23.12 yesterday, NAB has banked (excuse the pun) a gain of 24.3% over the month.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) has arguably been the bank that has seen the worst circumstances in 2020 so far. Remember, it was forced to pay an Australian corporate record of a fine a few months ago, which cost it $1.3 billion. So, Westpac started the month at $17.91 a share, and closed up yesterday at $20.25. That's a gain of 13.07%.
Last, and in this case least (in terms of market capitalisation), we have Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ). ANZ closed October out at a price of $18.81 a share. It closed out November yesterday at a price of $22.76 a share. That means ANZ shareholders have enjoyed an even 21% appreciation over the month.
For what it's worth, the ASX's 'fifth bank' Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) rose from $126.75 to $140.20 over November, a gain of 10.61%.
Foolish takeaway
Looking at these numbers, we can see that NAB was the best ASX banking share to own in November, treating its investors to a very welcome 24.3% gain. This was almost matched by ANZ's 21%, with CBA and Westpac bringing up the rear with gains of 15.2% and 13.1% respectively.
