A Morningstar report into the performance of managed funds has revealed the extent of the failure of global equities funds to provide returns to investors, with more than 72 per cent of global equities funds recording negative returns over the last five years.

Out of 55 global equities funds listed by the research house, 40 recorded negative returns over the five years to December 2009, ranging from minus 0.02 per cent to minus 5.02 per cent.

PM Capital's Absolute Return Fund, AXA’s Wholesale Global Equity Growth Fund and BT’s Wholesale Value Global Share Fund were the worst performers over five years, recording minus 5.02 per cent, minus 4.69 per cent and minus 4.41 per cent respectively.

Twenty four of the global equities funds listed recorded losses of between 0 per cent and 0.2 per cent, while 16 global equities funds recorded losses of more than minus 2 per cent.

The report also confirmed the superior performance of the domestic equities market, with positive returns recorded for all 80 Australian equities funds over five years.

The highest returns for the five years to December 2009 were SG Hiscock’s Concentrated Equity Fund at 16.59 per cent, followed by Hyperion’s Australian Growth Companies Fund, which recorded 13.93 per cent over five years.

However, the positive returns for the majority of domestic equities funds were restricted to single figures, with 53 of the 80 funds listed reaching returns of up to 9 per cent over a five-year period.