Given the tough Q4 all funds across the board faced last year, Money Management looked at the performance of global equities in January this year to see which funds bounced back in January and gave investors the best start to 2019.
The top fund in January, UBS Global High Conviction, returned 10.66 per cent for the month – a massive feat compared to its bottom position the previous month, with -10.84 per cent returns. It’s similarly a step up from its performance in January last year, where it returned 3.41 per cent.
In fact, the top fund for the month returned around six per cent more than the top fund for December, Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity, which returned (4.10 per cent).
The second-top fund, Invesco Wholesale Global Opportunities Hedged, similarly outdid its December performance, returning 10.34 per cent in January as opposed to -6.42 per cent in December. Again, like UBS, the fund also got off to a better start this year than last, where it returned 3.50 per cent.
Perpetual’s Wholesale Global Share Hedged returned 10.32 per cent compared to -7.50 per cent in December last year, and Pan-Tribal Global Equity returned 9.83 per cent as compared to -5.35 per cent the month prior.
The last fund to comprise the top five for the month was Evans and Partners International Hedged, which returned 9.63 per cent, which again is a feat compared to its December returns of -5.51 per cent, and its January 2018 returns of 1.03 per cent.
What’s clear is that the top funds genuinely doubled returns to make back the month, not unlike the MSCI AC World ex Australia index, which returned 4.78 per cent in January compared to -3.62 per cent in December last year.
As well, where only five funds in the sector managed to stay above the line and produce positive returns, only one fund, the Stewart Investors Wholesale Worldwide Leaders fund, dropped to negative for the month, returning -2.26 per cent.
The chart below tracks the performance of the top five funds for December and January as compared to the MSCI AC World ex Australia and the global equity sector average.
