The outlook for institutional sector returns for the financial year was poor at -7.5 per cent with one month left to go, according to Morningstar's Institutional Sector report for May.
The Australian share market dived, returning -6.7 per cent in May after four consecutive months of positive returns.
Lazard Select topped Morningstar's best-performing large-cap Australian share strategies in May, followed by Investors Mutual and Dalton Nicol Reid.
The median manager returned -7.0 per cent in May, with Investors Mutual in prime position returning -3.2 per cent. Dalton Nicol Reid and Lazard Select followed with -4.8 per cent and -5.3 per cent respectively.
Magellan, Wingate and Principle topped the best-performing international share strategies, although international share markets were down again in May with the MSCI World ex-Australia NR Index posting -1.8 per cent returns for the month and -2.0 over the year.
The rollercoaster of Australian listed property returns continued in May, with returns dropping -1.3 per cent after jumping 5.5 per cent in April.
While listed property experienced another downturn, yearly returns to the end of May were 5.6 per cent with APN, SGH and Antares the best performers.
Macquarie True Index, BT and Perpetual attained the best returns in May for Australian fixed income strategies. The UBS Composite Board Index returned 3.1 per cent for the month and 13.2 per cent for the year.
ASIC has warned that practices across the $200 billion private credit market are inconsistent and, in some cases, require serious improvement.
A surge in electricity prices has driven the monthly Consumer Price Index to its highest level in a year, exceeding forecasts.
Infrastructure well-positioned to hedge against global uncertainty, says investment chief.
The fund manager remains positive on the outlook for gold and believes ongoing market volatility will provide opportunities to acquire small-cap stocks in promising sectors.