Australian superannuation funds have taken a dive in May after climbing up the returns ladder for four consecutive months, according to Morningstar's Australian Superannuation Survey to 31 May 2012.
The median return for the calendar year-to-date was 4.1 per cent for growth funds, while the financial year-to-date returned -0.1 per cent. May's median growth manager returned -2.4 per cent.
Australian growth assets produced negative results in May, with the S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index returning -6.7 per cent, while international sharemarkets also lost ground returning -1.8 per cent.
Australian property securities returned -1.3 per cent in May – a better result than global property securities which returned -4.2 per cent contributing to the month's poor results for growth funds.
AustralianSuper made the most of a bad month for superannuation, attracting the highest returns among Australian superannuation funds.
AustralianSuper's growth fund returned -1.1 per cent in May, followed by AGEST at -1.3 per cent, Sunsuper at -1.4 per cent and BT with -1.6 per cent.
Over 12 months, AustralianSuper returned 2.2 per cent compared to AGEST at 1.6 per cent, REI Super at 1.2 per cent and Sunsuper at 1.0 per cent.
AustralianSuper's balanced fund also won out in May, returning -0.2 per cent, followed by AGEST at -0.2 per cent, Catholic Super at -1.1 per cent and Rest at -1.1 per cent.
