Which global equity funds performed best in 2019?
Despite an early pessimistic view for 2019, the year finished well as positive news in the US/China trade war, Brexit and other geopolitical issues provided renewed optimism and certainty.
According to FE Analytics, the best performing global equity funds were CFS FirstChoice Acadian Wholesale Geared Global Equity (53.43%), CFS FirstChoice Wholesale Geared Growth Plus (42.85%), Zurich Investments Concentrated Global Growth (41.13%), Evans and Partners International B (40.72%) and Intermede Global Equities I (38.55%).
The Australian Core Strategies global equities sector returned 25.03%, year to 31 December, 2019.
CFS FirstChoice Acadian Wholesale Geared Global Equity’s top holdings were Microsoft (4.84%), Apple (4.25%), Alphabet – Class A (2.4%), Berkshire Hathaway – Class B (2.31%) and Procter & Gamble (2.24%), as of 30 November, 2019.
The Wholesale Geared Growth Plus fund’s top holdings were ANZ (3.61%), BHP (3.48%), NAB (3.21%), CSL (2.83%) and CBA (2.5%), as of 30 September, 2019.
Zurich’s top holdings were Amazon (4.59%), Alibaba (4.15%), Visa (3.92%), Adobe (3.58%) and Avantor (3.41%), as of 31 December, 2019.
Evans and Partners’ top holdings were Booking Holdings (8.89%), Alphabet (8.8%), Aon (8.05%), Ross Stores (8%) and Nordson (7.15%), as of 30 September, 2019.
Intermede’s top holdings were Nestle (3.9%), House Development Financial Corp (3.69%), Mastercard (3.27%), Heineken (3.19%) and Apple (3.15%), as of 31 December, 2019.
In its market commentary, Zurich said optimism increased towards the end of the year due to the nearing of resolutions in trade and political issues.
“Global stocks delivered strong performance, supported by positive earnings reports and reduced pessimism on the global economic outlook,” it said.
“The US and China announced progress toward an initial trade agreement, and December’s snap election results reduced political uncertainty around Brexit.”
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