POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Listed shares see retail funds outperform
Retail funds outperformed their industry fund counterparts in February on the back of a better performance by listed shares and property, according to the latest data released by Chant West.
According to the Chant West research, retail funds edged out industry funds in February returning 1.2 per cent (versus 1.1 per cent for industry funds), with Chant West principal, Warren Chant, pointing out that industry funds continued to hold the advantage over the longer term, having returned 5.5 per cent per annum against 4.5 per cent for retail funds over the 10 years to February 2017.
Commenting on the research, Chant said that after a flat January, super funds had a better month in February with the median growth fund (61 to 80 per cent growth assets) up 1.2 per cent, bringing the return over the first eight months of the 2017 financial year to a healthy 6.8 per cent.
The analysis said all major asset sectors delivered positive returns in February, led by listed shares and property with Australian shares advancing 2.2 per cent while international shares were up 3.1 per cent in hedged terms but, with the continuing appreciation of the Australian dollar (up from US$0.76 to US$0.77 over the month) this reduced to 1.5 per cent in unhedged terms.
It said listed property also delivered strong returns, with Australian and global REITs up 4.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
“Growth funds have performed better than expected this financial year,” Chant said. “With share markets up further so far in March, we estimate that growth funds are up more than 7.5 per cent over the financial year to date.”
He said that with just over one quarter remaining, there was a good chance that they would deliver an eighth consecutive positive financial year return.
“This is particularly impressive given the economic and political uncertainty that has been prevalent over the past few years,” Chant said.
Recommended for you
Private market assets in super have surged, while private debt recorded the fastest growth among all investment types.
The equities investor has launched a new long-short fund seeded by UniSuper, targeting alpha from ASX 300 equities using AI insights.
The fund has strengthened efforts to boost gender diversity, targeting 40:40:20 balance across its investment teams by 2030.
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
92.15 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
53.24 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
43.15 3 y p.a(%)
4
DomaCom Shoreline North Coogee
36.26 3 y p.a(%)
5
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
35.87 3 y p.a(%)
