Geared Australian equities were the best-performing sector over 2021, seeing returns of 29.8%, while global sectors tended to outperform those focused on Australia.
According to data from FE Analytics, the Australian equity geared sector within the Australian Core Strategies universe saw returns of 29.8% over one year to 31 December, 2021.
This included funds such as Ausbil Australian Geared Equity, Perpetual Wholesale Geared Australian and CFS Acadian Wholesale Geared Australian Equity which all returned 40% or more over the period.
This compared to returns by the broader Australian equity sector of 17.8% and by the ASX 200 of 17.2%
Top-performing Australian equity geared funds versus sector during 2021
This was followed by three global sectors; global property, global equity and global small and mid-cap equities which returned 24.9%, 23.6% and 23.5% respectively over the period.
Global sectors performed better than Australian equities; Australian listed property, Australian equities and Australian small and mid-cap equities returned 22.8%, 17.8% and 21.4% respectively in comparison.
Meanwhile, North American funds, where the S&P 500 saw the strongest returns in 2021, returned 22.5% with the best fund being BetaShares Geared US Equity with returns of 66.2% followed by ETFS Ultra Long Nasdaq 100 Hedge which returned 64.6%.
Top-performing North American funds versus sector during 2021
