Mining, Consumer Staples are the only major ASX sectors in the green this year

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The mining and consumer staple sectors are the only major sectors on the ASX marching ahead in 2020.

Of the ASX’s 10 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) sectors, the only groups to record a positive result were Consumer Staples (30) and Materials (15), which includes mining.

These sectors have advanced 5 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

The remaining sectors have been hit by losses this year.

The consumer staples group predominantly consists of food and agriculture stocks as well as wellness product stocks. These are typically considered essential as opposed to consumer discretionary goods.

As a consequence, many of these companies were either able to continue operating, or able to thrive through online sales.

Winners include Skin Elements (ASX:SKN), which is up nearly 800 per cent this year, and Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA), which has more than tripled.

Another notable performer is large cap Coles (ASX:COL), which is up 14 per cent.

That’s a notable achievement considering the ASX200’s fall this year and that Coles’ duopoly competitor Woolworths (ASX:WOW) remains virtually flat over the same period.

As for the materials sector, which is populated mostly (although not exclusively) by mining stocks, it has been buoyed by exploration successes in the junior exploration space.

The larger caps, meanwhile, have been propelled upwards by solid commodity prices, particularly gold.

The most successful stocks include De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG), Chalice Gold Mines (ASX:CHN) and Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI). De Grey has been the most successful, up over 1200 per cent this year.

Best performing micro-sectors

While the only broader sector winners were materials and consumer staples, there were a number of winners among micro-sectors as judged by their  “GICS Industry” – a sub classification used to further divide stocks.

One winner is Diversified Telecommunication Stocks which collectively are up 17.6 per cent in 2020 thanks largely to the forced shift to remote working as a result of COVID-19.

The headline figure comes despite casualties in the sector this year including Speedcast (ASX:SDA) and Sky and Space Global (ASX:SAS).

Food & Staples retailing, the category containing our major supermarkets, was solid as well with a 16 per cent gain.

But online retailing has been particularly hot having gained 41 per cent. Solid performers here include online wine retailer Digital Wine Ventures (ASX:DW8) and Kogan (ASX:KGN).

The latter stock has become a billion-dollar company as well as a seven-bagger since its 2016 IPO.

Another solid performing micro-sector is Life Sciences Tools & Services, which has gained 38 per cent, and it’s not just because of COVID-19.

One winner was kidney disease fighter Proteomics International (ASX:PIQ). Earlier this month it released significant results from a pivotal study on the power of its blood test, PromarkerD, to predict diseases.

Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS), meanwhile, has also gained ground following the development of a COVID-19 test kit that it received approval to sell back in April.

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