Superannuation funds have come out of the December quarter market downturn in good shape, with February’s median balanced option’s return of 2.6 per cent being the highest monthly return since July 2016.
This represented a full recovery for median options from last year’s slump, which saw super funds hit with four consecutive months of negative returns.
For the ten years to February’s end, the data, sourced from SuperRatings, showed that the top-performing option belonged to TelstraSuper with 9.7 per cent, followed by QSuper, UniSuper and CareSuper, all returning 9.5 per cent or above.
The median growth option returned 3.3 per cent over the month, with the median Australian shares and international shares options delivering performances of 5.4 and 4.2 per cent respectively.
SuperRatings executive director, Kirby Rappell, showed the sector’s resilience even in challenging market conditions.
“Markets have generally reacted favourably to the recent round of earnings in Australia and the US, while trade tensions have eased and central banks have backed away from further tightening,” he said. “But most participants expect volatility to return in the near future, meaning funds must remain focused on long-term performance.”
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
With private asset valuations emerging as a key concern for both regulators and the broader market, Apollo Global Management has called on the corporate regulator to issue clear principles on valuation practices, including guidance on the disclosures it expects from market participants.
Institutional asset owners are largely rethinking their exposure to the US, with private markets increasingly being viewed as a strategic investment allocation, new research has shown.
Australia’s corporate regulator has been told it must quickly modernise its oversight of private markets, after being caught off guard by the complexity, size, and opacity of the asset class now dominating institutional portfolios.