Which infrastructure funds were the least volatile?


The three least volatile equity funds were in the infrastructure equity sector, which was the least volatile of all the equity sectors, according to data.
According to FE Analytics, within the Australia Core Strategies universe, the infrastructure equity sector returned 18.56% with an average volatility of 6.26, over the year to 29 November, 2019.
Least volatile were IPIF Management Infrastructure Partners Investment Core (2.95), Mercer
Global Unlisted Infrastructure (3.92), AMP Capital Core Infrastructure (3.94), 4D Global Infrastructure A (7.08) and ATLAS Infrastructure Australian Feeder Hedged (7.25).
4D saw a return of 29.64%, Atlas returned 24.07%, AMP returned 11.64%, Mercer returned 9.3% and IPIF returned 4.01%.
Of the other best performers in the top five of the sector, AMP Capital Global Infrastructure Securities Unhedged Wholesale had a volatility of 9.75, followed by BlackRock Global Listed Infrastructure (9.67), Magellan Infrastructure Unhedged (9) and Atlas Infrastructure Australian Feeder Unhedged (7.81).
In its yearly review, 4D said despite potential volatility from macro issues, like the trade war, Brexit and political tensions in certain countries, falling interest rates helped equities stay strong against those headwinds.
“This time last year market ‘experts’ were confidently predicting up to four US Fed Fund rate hikes in 2019,” it said.
“We actually got multiple cuts, with a number of European countries now in negative interest rate territory.
“Unquestionably lower interest rates make equities look relatively attractive against bonds and in particular supported infrastructure.”
Performance of the least volatile infrastructure equity funds, over the year to 29 November 2019
Recommended for you
Lonsec and SQM Research have highlighted manager selection as a crucial risk for financial advisers when it comes to private market investments, particularly due to the clear performance dispersion.
Macquarie Asset Management has indicated its desire to commit the fast-growing wealth business in Australia by divesting part of its public investment business to Japanese investment bank Nomura.
Australia’s “sophisticated” financial services industry is a magnet for offshore fund managers, according to a global firm.
The latest Morningstar asset manager survey believes ETF providers are likely to retain the market share they have gained from active managers.