Given the news about Ukraine and media attention on the oil price, it might surprise many to learn that the Australian sharemarket rose in February. In price terms, it rose by 1.1% and when dividends are included, it added 2.1%. That’s equivalent to an annualized return of over 25%!

In fact, the Australian market outperformed most other developed markets. The US, for example, lost 3.1% over the month as measured by the benchmark S&P 500 index. The Aussie market is still down this calendar year (5.3% before dividends and 4.3% after dividends), but it is doing better than other world markets.

So where is the relative “outperformance” coming from?

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