The value of cleantech stocks on the Australian stock exchange has finally regained its levels reached at its previous peak before the crash of 2007. But it has got New Zealand stocks to thank for it.
The Australian CleanTech Index is now value at $16.3 billion, equalling its previous peak of July 2007, and more than two and a half times its miserable low of $6.2 billion, reached just over two years ago in July 2012.
But, it’s not quite the case of a massive recovery in individual stocks. Some of the major players, such as Infigen Energy and Silex Systems, are still languishing, as is the entire geothermal sector. The value of the index has been boosted by the listing of New Zealand renewable energy giants such as Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power.
Still, the index rose strongly in October 2014 and outperformed both the Small Ordinaries and the ASX200 over the month. Ironically, it has done so in the last 3-month, 6-month and 12-month periods, when the policy environment has been at its worse, and has under performed over the 3-year period.
The best performing sub-indices for the month were the ACT Waste Index with a gain of 2.4% and the ACT Environment Index with a 0.4% gain. The weakest sub-index through October was the ACT Geothermal Index recording a loss of 6.1%.
