Banks on the nose, as Aussie investors turn to resources, comm property

Australia’s big four banks are on the outs with investors, with a decisive shift towards commercial real estate and resource stocks in the early months of 2025, the latest trading data from wholesale equities platform AUSIEX reveals.

No banks made it into the top five investment buys for either category of advised clients, non-advised investors and SMSF clients over the months of January and February.

Indeed, advised investors sold more bank stocks than they bought, with the big four bank stocks (including CBA, Westpac and NAB) also the most sold stocks among non-advised clients and SMSF trustees.

Both CBA’s and Westpac’s share prices have dropped by more than 8% over the past month, with NAB’s price retreating by nearly 16%.

AUSIEX data showed that advised investors and SMSF trustees both opted for a broad range of stocks covering the telco, commercial property and biotech sectors, namely Telstra, Goodman Group, CSL and Scentre Group.

By contrast, non-advised investors showed significantly greater interest in resource companies over others, buying up stocks in Fortescue, Mineral Resources and BHP, with petroleum producer Woodside also a popular pick.

Fortescue, however, was on the outs amongst both advised and non-advised investors segments, appearing among both groups’ most sold stocks. The mining giant’s share priced is down nearly 19% since early February.

Retail conglomerate Wesfarmers, whose share price has dropped just over 5% over the month to date, was also the most sold stock among advised and SMSF trustee groups.

AUSIEX is a leading provider of domestic and international trade execution and clearing and settlement services, accounting for a third of the wholesale trading market in Australia.