Aggressive and growth equities back on top for mixed asset funds
Equity heavy mixed asset funds, particularly those in the aggressive and growth mixed asset sectors, rebounded well in 2019 after weak end to 2018.
According to FE Analytics, of the five mixed asset sectors within the Australian Core Strategies universe, aggressive returned 19.91%, growth returned 17.32%, balanced returned 13.59%, flexible returned 11.79% and cautious returned 7.66%, over the year to 31 December, 2019.
In the 2018 calendar year, cautious returned 0.4%, balanced returned -1.31%, flexible returned -1.96%, growth returned -2.28% and aggressive returned -3.41%.
In the 2017 calendar year, aggressive returned 11.71%, growth returned 10.07%, balanced returned 8.17%, flexible returned 7.55% and cautious returned 4.46%.
The top performers in the aggressive sector were IPAC Select Index High Growth (24.48%), Advance High Growth Multi Blend Wholesale (23.71%), BT Wholesale Multi-manager High Growth (23.69%), Onepath Wholesale High Growth Trust (23.52%) and Vanguard Diversified High Growth Index ETF (23.51%).
Advance High Growth and BT both held 40.27% and 44.02% respectively for Australian and Global equities, OnePath held 36.08% and 48.79%, and Vanguard held 36.1% and 53.9%, all as of 30 November, 2019.
Growth top performers were Fiducian Ultra Growth (24.47%), AMP Capital High Growth (22.57%), Ausbil Balanced (22.22%), Fiducian Growth (22.05%) and Macquarie Life Growth (22.03%).
Fiducian Ultra Growth held 47.61% and 43.17% for Australian equities and global equities respectively, AMP held 35.7% and 48.26%, Ausbil held 46.22% and 23.35%, Fiducian Growth 42.86% and 31.79%, and Macquarie held 44.42% and 30.81%.
Balanced top performers were Fiducian Balanced (19.66%), IPAC Life Choices Index 50 (18.88%), Advance Balanced Multi Blend Wholesale (18.54%), IPAC Select Index Balanced (18.37%) and Australian Ethical Balanced B (18.35%).
Flexible top performers were BT 1970s Lifestage A (22.45%), BT 1980s Lifestage A (22.44%), BT 1990s Lifestage A (22.4%), BT 2000s Lifestage A (22.37%) and IPAC Life Choices Active 100 (22.1%).
Cautious top performers were IPAC Select Index Moderately Defensive (14.02%), BlackRock Scientific Diversified Stable Wholesale (12.99%), Macquarie Multi-Asset Opportunities (12.65%), IOOF Profile 45 (11.04%) and Fiducian Capital Stable (10.83%).
Performance of ACS Mixed Asset sectors over the year to 31 December 2019
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