After three consecutive years of losses, Chinese stocks managed to finish 2024 with a positive return.
The MSCI China index, a closely watched benchmark for the Chinese equity market, finished last year with a 19.7% return in US dollar terms.
This performance came on the back of a sharp rally during September following a series of announcements from the Chinese government to stimulate the economy.
Although the broader index level returns of Chinese equities finished 2024 strong, many of the largest actively managed funds did not keep up the pace with the rally.
However, there were handful of funds that delivered gains that exceeded the 25% return posted by the S&P 500 index last year.
Below are five top performing funds across the China, Greater China and Hong Kong equity market sectors, according to data compiled from FE fundinfo*.
Foresight China Equity
The Foresight China Equity fund delivered a 46.7% return during 2024, well above its actively managed peers, the broader China index, and the S&P 500 index.
The firm takes a value investing approach to investing, focusing on long-term investments into undervalued companies.
The fund was launched in October 2023, and is run by portfolio manager Michael Wan. Its largest holdings are in Xiami Corp, China Beststudy Education Group, and Tencent Holdings.
Ping An of China CSI HK Dividend ETF
The Ping An of China CSI HK Dividend ETF delivered a 36.8% gain last year, comfortably beating the broader MSCI China index and S&P 500 index.
This exchange-traded-fund (ETF) tracks the performance of the CSI Hong Kong Dividend Index, which has just 30 holdings.
Its concentrated positions in high-dividend yielding stocks such as China’s national oil firm CNOOC Group (13.1% of the portfolio) boosted its returns last year.
iShares China Large Cap ETF
The iShares China Large-Cap ETF delivered a 30.1% gain over the course of 2024, also outperforming both the China and US equity indices.
This exchange-traded-fund managed to outperform due to tracking the FTSE China 50 Index benchmark, which invests in the largest 50 Chinese companies, resulting in higher portfolio concentration.
It has exposure to 50 of the largest Chinese stocks listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, including Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan.
HS China Index
The Hang Seng China Index fund delivered a 29.6% return last year, also ahead of the broader China index and the S&P 500.
Like the fund above, the Hang Seng China Index fund also tracks the FTSE China 50 Index benchmark, a more concentrated portfolio of 50 holdings that enabled it to outperform other indices.
LionGlobal China Growth Fund
The LionGlobal China Growth fund delivered a 27.8% return last year, well ahead of many of its actively managed peers as well as the S&P 500 index.
This fund’s returns were boosted by its unusually large allocation to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) at almost 20% of its portfolio.
Shares in TSMC rallied over 80% during 2024 as demand for its chip foundry continued to rise on the back of a continued surge in AI chip sales.
*The fund performance was measured in US dollar terms based on data from FE fundinfo. The funds were only those fall under the relevant Hong Kong SFC Authorised Mutual or Singapore Mutual sectors as classified by FE fundinfo.
