Australian share fund managers posted overall negative results over the first month of 2017, with the median returns -0.8 per cent for the month, according to a Morningstar study.
The Morningstar Australian Institutional Sector Survey also found that in January the Australian share fund managers was up 14.5 per cent counting year-on-year, although behind the S&P/ASX 300 index’s 17.3 per cent.
The best-performing Australian share strategies of the year were Allan Gray (46.5 per cent), followed by Lazard Select (34.9 per cent) and Maple-Brown Abbott (27.3 per cent).
At the same time, global share strategies lagged Australian shares, with the median returning nine per cent on an unhedged basis. Orbis (26.6 per cent), Antipodes (18.4 per cent) and Platinum (16.7 per cent) were the best-performing global share funds over the year.
The median Australian property securities manager gained 7.4 per cent over the year, with winners being Folkestone Maxim (11.6 per cent), SG Hiscock (9.7 per cent) and Morningstar Investment Manager (9.5 per cent).
Growth assets delivered overall poor results, with Australian equities being the best performer in this class, followed by global listed property, global equities and Australian listed property.
Value Australian share strategies did better than their growth counterparts over the year, according to Morningstar’s survey.
As far as the sectors were concerned, the resources (5.2 per cent) was the standout of the Australian sharemarket in January and it was followed by materials (4.8 per cent) and healthcare (4.6 per cent). The poor-performing sectors included industrials (-4.4 per cent), consumer discretionary (-4.3 per cent) and information technology (-4.2 per cent).
