Investment update to 30 November 2024

28 January 2025

November 2024 saw strong share market gains, contributing to strong returns across many of our investment options. Examples of returns for 1 year ended 30 November 2024 include¹:

• Accumulation accounts: Growth returned 19.22%, Balanced returned 16.87% and MySuper returned 15.50%.
• Pension accounts: Growth returned 21.46%, Balanced returned 18.73% and Conservative Balanced returned 15.25%.

Below are the returns for Brighter Super’s diversified investment options for the period ending 30 November 2024¹.

High SuperRatings rankings

Brighter Super’s Growth and Balanced options achieved high rankings in SuperRatings’ November 2024 Fund Crediting Rate Survey, which is used to benchmark top-performing options across the Australian superannuation industry².

Brighter Super’s default MySuper option delivered top quartile returns in the SR50 MySuper Index for 1 year (ranked 10th) and 3 years (ranked 3rd) ended 30 November 2024.

Market summary

Share markets were generally higher over November 2024, likely benefitting from the reduced uncertainty associated with the outcome of the US election. It is likely that robust corporate earnings and some positive surprises on economic data contributed to share market performance. The MSCI World ex-Australia Index (Hedged) returned 5.0% for the month.

US equities outperformed broader Developed Markets over the month, with the S&P 500 returning 5.9%. US equities responded positively to the election outcome, with a decisive outcome reducing higher-than-normal levels of political uncertainty in markets. A ‘Republican Sweep’ of both houses of Congress was also likely viewed as a ‘pro-growth’ outcome, which may be perceived as supportive of corporate earnings.

Asian equities were broadly weaker, with negative returns across China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Weakness in Asian equity markets was partially linked to the potential impact of tariffs that may emerge from the election of Donald Trump.

The MSCI Europe Index underperformed Developed Markets, returning 0.9% over November 2024. The Eurozone’s economic data continues to be weak, with business indicators pointing to a contraction in private sector activity. 

Australian equities were stronger over November 2024, returning 3.7%. The Information Technology sector was the standout performer, returning 10.2%. Utilities were also much stronger, returning 9.1%. A weaker Materials sector (-2.8%) was the primary driver for the underperformance of Australian equities relative to Developed Markets. Interest rates remained unchanged, which was in line with consensus expectations. The monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure rose 2.1% in the 12 months to October 2024, with food, alcohol and tobacco key contributors to the rise in prices.

Both Australian and Overseas bonds were stronger over the month, returning 1.1% and 1.2% respectively. Lower bond yields over the month potentially reflected some marginally softer US retail sales data, along with inflation data that was in line with market expectations. At the end of November 2024, the Australian 10-year government bond yield had fallen 0.16% to 4.34%, whilst the US 10-year yield had fallen 0.11% to 4.17%.

Major currencies were marginally weaker relative to the US Dollar (USD) over the month. The Australian Dollar fell -0.5% relative to the USD. Ongoing strength in the US economy relative to Europe and Australia was a likely driver. Rate differentials were also likely supportive of the USD as well, with fewer rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve now priced in by markets.