Healthcare is the best of a bad lot, down the least at 3.84 per cent since the start of 2016. Tentative rises in Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, up 1.3 per cent, has cushioned the sector's fall, helped by rises in Primary Health Care and ResMed, up 1.28 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively.

The financial and mining sectors have been the biggest drags on the ASX. Materials have fallen 9.32 per cent and financials 8.12 per cent, continuing the momentum from last year where they were the worst performing sectors.

As a group, the best-performing stocks on the ASX of 2016 have been gold producers, shadowing a sharp rise in the spot gold price as investors pile into the traditional safe haven asset class.

Evolution Mining has performed the best, up 3.78 per cent, followed by Regis Resources and Australia's biggest gold producer Newcrest Mining, up 3.45 per cent and 3.39 per cent respectively.

JB Hi-Fi is up 2 per cent since the year's trading began, mostly driven by rival Dick Smith Electronic's public downfall and the opening of a potential sales shift.

"Because the uncertainty is driven by something we struggle to measure and struggle to understand, that is information from China, there is a natural and rightful aversion to some of the risk actually coming out from there," says Boey.

"I suspect we could face a rocky time on the ASX till halfway through the year, when the Chinese currency adjustment may be done."