The Australian sharemarket rose a respectable 12 per cent in 2017, as commodity prices recovered.
Lincoln Partners CEO Elio D'Amato says certain Australian industries had a good year as a result.
Local stocks
"The mining services sector was actually a strong performer this year, IT and healthcare were also robust and those sectors that had strong links that had strong links toward China also performed exceptionally well in 2017," Mr D'Amato told SBS News.
The emergence of new Chinese consumers drove many local stocks.
Martin Crabb, Chief Investment Officer at Shaw and Partners, says food, wine and infant product markets, along with battery component makers for electric cars, performed strongly.
"The fact that China is rapidly developing its e-commerce business and the consumer there is rapidly changing their consumption patterns, so that economy is doing in five years what Australia has taken 50 years to do in terms of change."
Global markets
But it wasn't enough to propel Australia's sharemarket to the heights of its global competitors.
Markets in Hong Kong, the US and China rose more than 20 per cent according to Bloomberg.
Mr Crabb says they have a larger focus on technology and online stocks.
Source: SBS / Bloomberg
"We talk about the FANG and the BATS: so that's Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google in the US, and it's Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent in China - those are the companies that are driving wealth globally."
Struggling sectors
Australia's market is very heavily into banks, telecommunications companies and retailers, and those sectors have struggled.
Retailers are facing online challenges, while difficulties with the NBN have impeded the telcos.
The banks are dealing with regulatory changes and an upcoming royal commission.
Superannuation boost
Mano Mohankumar, Senior Investment Research Manager at Chant West, says superannuation accounts are still likely to have received a welcome boost.
"We expect the median growth fund to return about 10.5 per cent for the year, so that's actually the highest single calendar return in four years, so that was 2013 when we had a return of 17.2 per cent," he said.
"The surprisingly strong result for the year is really driven by strong sharemarkets, particularly overseas markets. We estimate that international shares on a hedge basis has delivered about 19 per cent for the year."
But as Mr D'Amato explains, many global markets are yet to take a breather.
"I think it's important to remember that the US hasn't had a real correction over the last 12 months and literally it's been a ride, north, north east. So the more we have that positive run, the more we head to that next correction."
Source: SBS / Chat West
Where to invest next?
And Mr Crabb adds there are signs markets may be at the top of the current cycle.
"We're certainly seeing animal spirits back to the core. We're seeing things like Bitcoin which is the biggest mania in history, it's up almost 125,000 per cent since the last five years," he said.
"We're seeing other warning signs like the prices people are paying for artwork, so we're seeing a record struck this year for a da Vinci painting, US$450 million, which is a bit, and we've seen the family moguls selling out after years, generations in industry, so the Lowy family with Westfield and the Murdochs with Fox."
Still, once the dust settles, experts like Mr D'Amato say local investors should hold an international focus in 2018.
"We still think that the global economy will grow more rapidly than our domestic one, look for small businesses that are quite disruptive in the industries that they perform in and be aware that notwithstanding that the banks will be under microscope pressure, that their dividends will be safe and sound in our opinion for the coming 12 months."
