Investors left with sore heads now party is over and market loses gains

It's late at night. The party's in full swing. The music is loud and everyone's having a good time until the host threatens to remove the punchbowl.

That is what happened last week when US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said he would have to start "tapering" the massive money printing that has been under way in the US to help economic growth.

Sharemarkets around the world fell as investors pulled out, spooked about what the easing of the cash injection into the US economy would mean for long-term growth in America and globally, as well as asset prices in the short term.

The ASX200 has given up almost all of the gains it has made since the start of the year.

The market, which was trading at about 5200 points last month, closed on Tuesday at 4656 points. All of this year's much-vaunted gains have been erased.

Not only are shares being hammered. The yield on 10-year Australian government bonds is at more than 4 per cent, higher than it has been for more than a year. Bond yields have moved higher around the world. When bond prices fall, yields rise, meaning investors are selling out of bonds.

Even the ultimate "safe haven", gold, has lost its lustre.

Adding to investor fears is China's central bank signalling that it would make credit harder to obtain in an effort to clean-up bank lending.

Matthew Sherwood, head of investment markets research at Perpetual Investments, said Chinese economic growth could be on its way from about 7.5 per cent now to closer to 6 per cent.

The chief executive of Lincoln Indicators, Elio D'Amato, said: "In Australia, we have copped it in the neck. Our sharemarket has fallen loads more than other sharemarkets. You cannot even get a decent rate on a term deposit."

Fortunately, though, for investors, the fall in the value of the dollar will help Australian-listed exporters as they earn more for their exports, he said.

That will help those larger companies that export, such as Brambles, CSL, ResMed and Ramsay Healthcare. And then there are the good dividend yields available on Australian-listed companies whose dividends have high levels of franking.

"It continues to be a good environment for the banks," Mr D'Amato said. With the recent declines in share prices, shares in big banks will soon be able to be bought on fully franked dividend yields of 10 per cent, he said.

Jonathan Pain, author of investment newsletter The Pain Report, said the political uncertainty is not helping Australian markets.

He is expecting the sharemarket to remain volatile going into the federal election in September. Longer term, he is positive about the US economy and economic growth in China, Japan and India. "The time to be mega-bearish was in 2006 and 2007, not in 2013," he said.