John Redwood: Why investors should think again about Australia

John Redwood, chief global strategist at Charles Stanley, challenges investor preconceptions about investing in Australia.

Investors often hold back because they see the Australian market as a play on volatile mining stocks, demanding a discount to the other advanced markets of the world. In practice, the Australian share market moves more in line with the US indices than most other Asia-Pacific markets. The 200 index is dominated not by mining shares but by banks, accounting for almost 40% of the total capitalisation. Some 16% is materials, and 8% property, reinforcing the financials flavour to the whole. Redwood: Why China now faces more difficult decisions On this analysis, it will take higher in...