Australian equity funds were hit by some of worst losses of the Australian Core Strategies (ACS) universe last month as investors continued to move away from risk assets, FE fundinfo data shows.
While the opening months of 2022 had been challenging ones for investors to navigate, funds in the ACS Equity Australia sector had been holding up relatively well.
Although most parts of the market had been selling off, commodity prices had surged – and high weighting of commodity stocks in the Australian equity market meant it had fared better than most of its international peers.
This trend didn’t hold true in May, however, with the average fund in the ACS Equity Australia sector losing 2.9%, making it the fifth-worst peer group of the month. Some 16 of the 25 worst-performing funds during May invested in Australian assets.
It was the ACS Equity Europe sector where the biggest gains were seen during May, after its average member was up 1.2% following both a rise in European markets and favourable currency movements.
ACS Equity Infrastructure was in second place; infrastructure was seen a classic inflation hedge and had been attracting investors recently. Only three other sectors – ACS Property Australia Direct, ACS Fixed Int Mortgages and ACS Cash Australian Dollar – made positive average returns in May.
At the bottom of the table was the ACS Property Australia Listed sector, where average fund lost 7.3% last month. The bottom five sectors were completed by ACS Equity Australia Small/Mid Cap (down 6.4%), ACS Equity Australia Geared (down 4.1%), ACS Property Global (down 3.8%) and ACS Equity Australia (down 2.9%).
