Government debt was again a factor weighing down the performance of the Australian sharemarket in July. 

The All Ordinaries Index fell 3.4% to close the month at 4,500.50 points, marking a poor start to the new Financial Year.  Global sharemarkets were all weaker in July with the Dow Jones Index falling 2.2%, the FTSE falling 2.2%, the Nikkei 225 falling 0.6%.

This time the issue was not Greece, rather the U.S. and the associated politics of raising the US government’s borrowing limit.  At the time of writing there is relief that U.S. lawmakers have reached a last-minute compromise on spending cuts and a deal to lift the debt ceiling to avoid default (with the Australian sharemarket up 1.6% today).

Click on the link below to access the latest NAB Residential Property Survey.

This report monitors residential property prices and growth forecasts for all major Australian Capital cities.

The Greek debt crisis played havoc on the Australian sharemarket in June, before recovering strongly on the last two trading days with news that Greece’s parliament passed a further round of austerity measures.

The All Ordinaries Index fell 2.7% to close June (and the 2010-11 financial year) at 4,659.80 points.  I note that the All Ords was down as much as 5.5% during the month, before staging a strong late month recovery.  For the full financial year, the All Ords had a positive 3.4% return.