It has been a volatile period for global equity funds over the past three years, but a handful are on track to deliver back-to-back top-ranked performance over the period, according to data compiled by FSA.
Generally, most equities performed well in 2021 after massive central bank stimulus and a strong recovery following the global pandemic.
In 2022 however, equities experienced a major correction on the back of rising interest rates and sticky inflation exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile in 2023, the market has been driven largely by narrow outperformance of big tech stocks rebounding on resilient earnings and optimism surrounding AI.
With three different market backdrops in 2021, 2022 and 2023 year-to-date, FSA reveals the four funds available for distribution in Hong Kong and Singapore which are on track to deliver top-quartile returns year-after-year for three years in a row, based on data from FE fundinfo.
The $585m Invesco Global Equity Income fund was the only actively managed strategy to have top quartile performance in both the Hong Kong international equity sector and Singapore international equity sector across the three periods.
Run by Stephen Anness and Joe Dowling, this income-focused strategy was up 20.39% in 2021, down 10.96% in 2022 and is now up 13.81% year-to-date.
The fund takes a ‘total return’ approach, actively managing the portfolio to achieve both capital gains and income over the long-run.
The $4bn JPM Global Select Equity fund, was another strategy that delivered top-quartile performance in 2021, 2022 and year-to-date relative to its peers in the Hong Kong mutual fund market.
Managed by Helge Skibeli and Christian Pecher, this actively managed strategy posted returns of 22.53% in 2021, followed by a 15.78% loss in 2022. Year-to-date it is up 15.65%.
The fund has benefitted more recently from its overweight positions in derivatives exchange firm CME Group and US-based pharmaceutical firm AbbVie.
The $186m Jupiter Merian World Equity fund also outperformed its peers in Hong Kong with returns of 22.09% in 2021, a 16.77% loss in 2022 and a 12.63% return year-to-date.
This strategy is managed by Jupiter’s systematic equities team headed up by Amadeo Alentorn, alongside James Murray, Matus Mrazik, Tarun Inani, Yuangao Liu and Sean Storey.
The team uses quantitative methods to screen and select stocks, managing a portfolio which had as many as 344 positions according to its September factsheet.
The $463m iShares MSCI World Islamic ETF was another product that beat both its Hong Kong and Singapore peers over the period considered.
Blackrock’s passive exchange-traded-fund, which tracks the performance of the MSCI World Islamic Index, delivered returns of 21.51% in 2021, a loss of 11.78% in 2022 and a return of 13.32% year-to-date.
The index tracks global large and mid-cap stocks that comply with Sharia investment principles, prohibiting investment into companies with business in alcohol, tobacco, defence, and other industries relevant to Islamic investors.
*The top-performing funds were measured in US dollar terms. The year-to-date performance is based on data from FE fundinfo ending 13/11/2023. The data only includes funds that fall under the Hong Kong SFC Authorised Mutual or Singapore Mutual equity international sectors in the FE analytics platform. The performance ranking was based on the fund’s sector.
