Five worst performing funds in April
By Kristen McGachey, 3 May 18
Mark Carney cast doubt on a May rate rise, UK GDP grew at its most sluggish pace in over five years, US treasuries hit 3% and Russia faced US sanctions. So which funds had the toughest time navigating April? Our sister publication Portfolio Adviser examines performance figures from FE.
Hideo Shiozumi’s £1.01bn Japanese equity fund finds itself in the bottom two worst performing funds in April.
The Legg Mason IF Japan Equity fund is yet another fund on this list to suffer a reversal of fortunes since the first quarter. It was the best performer over the first three months of 2018, producing returns of 10.73%, easily topping the IA Japan sector’s -3.36%.
However, in April the fund entered negative territory, returning -6.21%, while the IA Japan sector delivered returns of 2.88%.
Although the fund has been ranked first quartile on FE over one, three and five years, Lowcock said Shiozumi’s emphasis on small cap companies means the fund is more susceptible to volatility.
But he pointed out the fund has enjoyed “a very strong period of performance over the past three years” returning 145% compared to the Nikkei 225 which achieved a return of 40% in the same period.
Tags: Baillie Gifford | City Financial | Invesco | Legg Mason | Neptune
