The Asia Pacific single country sector was the worst performing equity sector in 2019, and despite the US/China trade war, it was not China funds that held the sector back.
According to FE Analytics, the five worst equity sectors within the Australian Core Strategies universe over the year to 31 December, 2019 were Asia Pacific single country (16.97%), emerging markets (18.22%), Australian equity income (18.25%), Europe (21.41%) and Australia (22.56).
Five worst performing equity sectors in 2019
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw most of the success in the sector as the top three were all ETFs, while only one of the bottom five was an ETF.
The top five were VanEck Vectors China New Economy ETF (40.58%), VanEck Vectors ChinaAMC CSI 300 ETF (36%), BlackRock iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF NAV (33%), Premium China (24.05%), and Pendal
Japanese Share (20.71%).
The majority of bottom five performing funds were Indian equity focused. These were Fiducian India (1.16%), India Avenue Equity Retail (5.07%), Ellerston
India (7.43%), BlackRock iShares MSCI South Korea ETF NAV (7.73%), and Fidelity India (7.84%).
As noted in its September quarterly report, Fidelity said muted consumption demand weighed on India’s economic growth and policymakers announced measures to revive economic growth.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered interest rates in August, and signalled the possibility of further policy easing in coming months,” the company said.
“The Indian government also announced a meaningful reduction in corporate taxes aimed at improving the competitiveness of Indian companies, attracting foreign investments and restarting the private sector capital spending cycle.
“We continue to believe in India’s strong long-term growth prospects. The Indian economy is structurally driven by private consumption, with a growing young population, increasing penetration of goods and services, and urbanisation.”
Top and bottom five performing funds in the Asia Pacific single country sector in 2019
