Cleantech stocks take a hit as ASX stumbles
The ACT Australian CleanTech Index fell in January but still outperformed both the S&P ASX200 Index and the S&P Small Ordinaries.
The ACT Australian CleanTech Index fell from 39.9 to 39.3 over the month of January recording a 1.6 per cent loss. This compared to the S&P ASX200 loss of 3 per cent and the S&P ASX Small Ordinaries Index loss of 2.8 per cent. The Australian CleanTech 20 recorded a slightly worse result with a loss of 1.9 per cent.
The ACT Australian CleanTech Index is continuing its run of outperformance against its benchmarks over the last three, six and 12 months. Over the last 12 months it is running 12.9 per cent ahead of the ASX200.
The best performing sub-indices for the month were the ACT Geothermal Index with a gain of 12.2 per cent, driven by strong gains from Greenearth Energy, and the ACT Water Index with a 3 per cent gain.
The two weakest sub-indices through January were the ACT Biofuels Index which recorded a loss of 7.5 per cent and the ACT Solar Index recording a loss of 5.7 per cent.
To demonstrate the recent strong performance of the index, the index chart has been reset to 100 on January 1, 2012 for the Australian CleanTech Index and its benchmarks. This shows the recent performance and removes the strong gains and losses that occurred in the early years since its launch in 2008.
The market capitalisation of the 66 stocks in the ACT Australian CleanTech Index is $12.2 billion falling from its peak of $16.3 billion in July 2007 but up from its low of $6.2 billion in July 2012.
The month’s performance was driven by 11 companies with losses of more than 10 per cent. The greatest losses were recorded by Enerji (50 per cent), Water Resources Group (25 per cent) and Phoslock Water Solutions (24 per cent).
These gains were partially offset by 15 companies recording gains of more than 10 per cent led by Greenearth Energy (207 per cent), Quantum Energy (186 per cent) and Mission NewEnergy (80 per cent).
These best and worst performers are shown in the table below.
John O’Brien is managing director of Australian CleanTech.
The ACT Australian Cleantech Index is published each month on the Australian CleanTech website at www.auscleantech.com.au, in the Ethical Investor magazine, WME’s Environmental Management News, the Clean Energy Council website, the SIM Venture Securities Exchange website and the London-based Cleantech Investor.
Monthly results can be emailed directly to interested parties by signing up to the distribution list at http://www.auscleantech.com.au/Pages/cleantech.html.
For a full listing of all companies included in the ACT Australian CleanTech Index, please email your request to index@auscleantech.com.au.