Investors who put their savings into technology stocks more than quadrupled their money in 2024.
ZipCo was Australia’s best performer this year, with its share price soaring by 364 per cent from 64 cents to $2.97.
That means someone who invested $10,000 into this stock would have turned that into a $46,400 windfall.
Its status as the top performer on the Australian share market is a marked change from 2022 when it crashed from $4.33 to just 51 cents, after rival Afterpay surged.
Online trading platform Moomoo’s chief commercial officer Michael McCarthy said investors now regarded Zipco as a known quantity in the buy now, pay later space.
‘Zip is now seen as the cleanest player,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It’s attracting the funds; I think too it had lagged the others for quite some time.
‘In fact, it had been a poor performer when others were going well.’
Investors who put their savings into technology stocks quadrupled their money in 2024 (pictured is the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney)
ZipCo was Australia’s best performer this year, with its share price soaring by 364 per cent from 64 cents to $2.97
Technology and healthcare stocks made up the top five positions this year, with Life360, Sigma Healthcare, Pro Medicus and Telix Pharma dominating the honours list.
Mr McCarthy said an ageing population underpinned the stratospheric rise in healthcare stocks.
‘Healthcare has been a favourite sector for a long time – it’s all about demographics,’ he said.
‘The idea that ageing population will continue to drive growth in the provision of medical services is one that’s been going for a long time.’
Mr McCarthy said investors were particularly embracing tech stocks if they used the product themselves with Life360, a family safety and location sharing app, surging by 201 per cent from $7.56 to $22.77.
‘My guess is a lot of the shareholders of Life360 are actually app users themselves and they like the service they’re getting – that’s a very big theme in the market at the moment,’ he said.
Pharmacy chain Sigma Healthcare, that owns Amcal and is merging with Chemist Warehouse, was the third best performer with its share price soaring by 163 per cent from $1 to $2.63.
‘They’re seen as potentially benefiting from the tie-up between the two major players in the market,’ Mr McCarthy said.
Pharmacy chain Sigma Healthcare, that owns Amcal and is merging with Chemist Warehouse, was the third best performer with its share price soaring by 163 per cent from $1 to $2.63
‘Sigma is seen as a potential beneficiary of that big merger.’
Pro Medicus, Australia’s best performer during the 2023-24 financial year when it doubled in value, did even better in 2024.
The medical imaging company’s share price soared by 166 per cent this year from $95.83 to $254.66.
Telix Pharmaceuticals rounded out the top five list, also more than doubling as its share price climbed by 146 per cent from $10.08 to $24.83.
Australia’s best performing stocks vastly outperformed the broader share market with the benchmark S&P/ASX200 edging up by 7.6 per cent during the past year to 8,215 points.
The Australian Securities Exchange hit a record high in early December, with the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac soaring by a third in 2024 as investors forgot about the banking royal commission.
‘That great weight in the banks and their very strong performance this year was one of the biggest contributors to the overall market high,’ he said.
But the market has since retreated by 3.3 per cent, after losing $50billion in one day as investors worried about the US Federal Reserve not cutting interest rates as deeply as earlier thought.
Investors are embracing tech stocks if they used the product themselves with Life360, an app to see where loved ones are, surging by 201 per cent from $7.56 to $22.77
‘It’s no surprise that when the world appears to be changing on that, as countries start to go their own way, that that’s going to have a big impact on share markets,’ Mr McCarthy said.
But Mr McCarthy said investors were already enthusiastic about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House on January 20, despite his threat of 60 per cent tariffs on China, because they saw him as a pro-business leader.
‘Certainly, there are tax cuts on the table, proposed during the campaign – that’s one of the drivers,’ he said.
‘A corporate tax rate cut would be obviously a positive for business and would stimulate the US economy.
‘I hate to go all The Castle on you but I think it’s mostly the vibe that they’ve elected a pro-business administration and that whatever comes through, there will be overall, a positive effect on the US economy.’
As for 2025, Mr McCarthy said heavily embattled mining stocks like BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue could have a good year if Treasury is proven wrong and the price of iron ore, the commodity used to make steel, doesn’t crash back to $US60 a tonne, down from levels above $US100 a tonne, as a result of China’s property meltdown.
‘The track record for forecasting iron ore prices is poor – including Treasury estimates,’ he said.
Mr McCarthy expects the Australian share market to reach new peaks in 2025, but with a bumpy ride.
‘After a year where we’ve had repeated highs, and there’s very clear momentum – on balance, it seems most likely we’ll see further, new all-time highs at some stage, possibly even in the first quarter next year,’ he said.
