The top…
In FSA’s monthly ranking of best three-year perfromance of funds available to Hong Kong and Singapore investors, China equity funds have edged out India funds from the top. In US dollar terms, the Allianz China A-Shares fund delivered an annualised return of 25%, and the Schroder China Equity Alpha 24.9%.
| Fund | Three-year return, annualised, in USD |
| Allianz China A-Shares | 25.0% |
| Schroder China Equity Alpha | 24.9% |
| DSP Blackrock Small and Mid Cap (India equity) | 22.6% |
Data: FE, as of 31 May 2017
India funds, which were at the top in April on a three-year basis, ranked lower on average in May. This was partly because Indian equities performed very well in May 2014, which makes the starting point of the three-year period higher than it was in April.
China equity funds outperformed India equity in May, despite the movement of the two countries’ main equity indices (S&P BSE Sensex and Shanghai Composite), which would imply the opposite. Note also that the Indian rupee declined by 1.8% versus the renminbi in May.
On a one-year basis, the Market Vectors Brazil Small Cap Index ETF (listed as BRF on the NYSE) topped the list, delivering 58.6% to the end of May 2017. Basic resources funds did very well, in particular coal and palladium. The Market Vectors Coal ETF (listed as KOL in the US) earned investors 57.3% during the year despite a decline in May, and two physical palladium ETFs listed in Switzerland by UBS and Julius Baer, grew by more than 52%.
The bottom…
The worst performers on a three-year basis in May were the same energy and precious metals funds that were on the bottom over a three-year period ending in April.
In particular the Switzerland-based, euro-denominated UBS CMCI Oil ETF lost 31.5% in US dollar terms. Note that the euro lost more than 17% of its value during these three years.
The Castlestone Aliquot Precious Metals and the Schroder ISF Global Energy fund lost 29.7% and 24.6%, respectively.
| Fund | Three-year return, annualised, in USD |
| UBS (CH) ETF CMCI Oil SF | -31.5% |
| Castlestone Aliquot Precious Metals | -29.7% |
| Schroder ISF Global Energy | -24.6% |
Data: FE, as of 31 May 2017
On a one-year basis, the Castlestone Aliquot Precious Metals Fund tops the list of the worst performers as well, losing 30.6% during the year.
The Odey Swan and the Odey Odyssey, long-short funds managed by Crispin Odey, remain at the bottom of our ranking, having each lost over 27% of its value during the year, even though the Swan earned 7.7% in May.
