Which sectors have more than 50% of funds with positive gains?
Taking an international or specialist approach has paid off in the past year with more than 50% of funds in those sectors reporting positive returns over the past year, a far greater percentage than traditional Australian equity sectors.
According to FE Analytics, within in the Australian Core Strategies universe, some 56% of specialist equity funds and 56% of the global equities sector reported positive returns over the year to 30 April, 2020. The Asia Pacific ex Japan and North American equity sectors also had more than 40% of their funds with positive returns.
This is compared to just 3.1% of funds in the Australian equities sector, 6.4% in the Australian small and mid-cap equities sector and 2.3% in the Australian equity income sector.
Three funds in the specialist sector reported returns higher than 20%, all focused on healthcare which were Platinum International Healthcare P (24.9%), Platinum International Healthcare C (24.6%) and CFS Wholesale Global Health & Biotechnology (22.2%).
Top-performing specialist funds versus specialist equity sector over one year to 30 April
The specialist sector was helped by its exposure to themes such as healthcare and technology with all technology funds reporting positive returns and all but one healthcare fund doing so. Funds which fared badly over the same period tended to be focused on financials or industrials with the worst, BetaShares Global Bank ETF Currency Hedged, losing 30.5%.
Meanwhile, in the global sector, WS Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth returned 36.5%, BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF returned 20.4% and Lakehouse Global Growth returned 19%.
In total, there were 320 funds in the global sector which had a one-year track record and 180 of these reported positive returns while the sector average over the period was 1%.
The majority of global funds which reported positive returns were actively-managed ones with only nine of the 180 positive funds in the sector being exchange trade funds.
Top-performing global equity funds versus global equity sector over one year to 30 April
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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