It was much better to be invested in an Asia Pacific ex Japan equity focused superannuation fund than an Australian equity focused fund during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data.
According to FE Analytics, the sector average return for the Asia Pacific ex Japan funds during 2020 was 18.73% compared to 2.21% for the Australian equity funds.
Asia Pacific ex Japan equity super fund sector v Australian equity super fund sector in 2020
Source: FE Analytics
All of the average Asia Pacific ex Japan funds also managed to recover the March sell-off losses and continued to deliver returns while the average Australian equity fund did not recover losses.
The top-performing Asia Pacific ex Japan fund was ANZ ASA BT Wholesale Asian Share Manager with a return of 25.85%.
This was followed by MLC MK Business Super Platinum Asia at 25.37%, CFS FC W PersonalSuper Platinum Wholesale Asia at 24.55%, CFS Platinum Asia Select at 24.4%, and CFS FC PersonalSuper Platinum Asia at 24.16%.
Top-performing Asia Pacific ex Japan equity super funds v sector in 2020
Source: FE Analytics
At the other end of the scale the poorest performing fund was AMP Flex LifetimeSuper and CustomSuper Future Directions Asian Share at 5.97%, which still beat the average Australian equity fund.
This was followed by AMP Flexible Super Super Future Directions Asian Share at 6.47%, AMP SignatureSuper Future Directions Asian Share at 6.75%, CFS FC PersonalSuper FirstChoice Asian Share 9.98%, and CFS FC W PersonalSuper FirstChoice Wholesale Asian Share at 10.32%.
Bottom performing Asia Pacific ex Japan equity super funds v sector in 2020
Source: FE Analytics
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