Lingering uncertainty about demand weighed down resources for most of 2013 and, despite sentiment swinging the other way in the latter half, experts are still warning investors to be wary and target large diversified operators over smaller, single-commodity companies.

A refreshed political regime in China unsettled equity markets last year as analysts queried whether the ambitious growth plans of the previous leaders would be sustained. This was coupled with big write-downs across the market as commodity prices in gold, thermal and metallurgical coal and resources stocks were highly volatile for most of 2013.