Master trusts have outperformed the median industry fund in March, the first month this has happened since August 2008, according to a survey by Chant West.
Master trusts outperformed industry funds by 0.7 per cent over the month, posting growth of 3 per cent for the month, compared to 2.3 per cent by industry funds.
The outperformance partly reflects the downward valuations of unlisted assets, to which master trusts have a much lower exposure than industry funds.
It also reflects the strong performance of listed markets where master trusts have a higher exposure – 60 per cent versus 54 per cent for shares and 6 per cent versus 2 per cent for listed property.
Despite the March result, Chant West director Warren Chant said industry funds continued to hold a sizeable advantage over their commercial rivals in terms of historical performance.
For the year to date, master trusts were lagging industry funds by 6.9 per cent, posting a fall of 20.5 per cent compared to a fall of 14.6 per cent for industry funds.
