Market & Portfolio Update – November 2015

• Solid positive returns across all portfolios for the month, with most share markets up around the world. European markets led the gains, with Germany up 5%.
• Australia, China, Hong Kong and some Emerging Markets were the exception. They fell a little as the prices of some key commodities, such as iron ore, oil and gold, continued to drop.
• The New Zealand Dollar fell against most major currencies, particularly against the Australian Dollar (down 4%). This helped to boost the overall returns from the overseas investments in the portfolios.
• Interest rates were fairly steady, although longer term rates in New Zealand were up by about 0.25%. This was caused by some expectations that the Reserve Bank might not lower the official cash rate (OCR) any further.

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