The IMA Global Emerging Markets sector generated the most stable returns, followed by IMA Asia ex-Japan. Second place was previously held by UK All Companies.
Funds investing in core markets became less consistent in the final quarter of 2012, as a result of market conditions and potentially due to regulatory changes, F&C said.
The F&C Consistency Ratio looked at the proportion of funds in the 12 main IMA sectors that performed consistently above average in each of the last three 12 month periods. A total 17% of IMA Global Emerging Markets met the target in Q4 2012, while 8% of Asia ex-Japan did so.
Rob Burdett, co-head of multi-manager at F&C Investments, commented: "The last quarter of 2012 was an interesting one. While the most consistent sector for top quartile returns remained the IMA Global Emerging Markets sector, we saw a noticeable shift in the consistency of the performance of funds offering exposure to core markets.
"This change was arguably driven by two factors. Firstly, the impact of increased regulation on financials and related sectors weighing more heavily on developed markets. Secondly, we entered a period of more macro driven, volatile and arguably rotational markets in the core markets."
Generating Profit
The positive returns trend continued into Q4, and 33 of the 36 IMA sectors made money. The IMA China and Greater China sector topped the performance chart, generating 10.59%. IMA Europe ex UK, which was the best performer in Q3, fell to second place at 7.08%.
UK Smaller Companies was the best performer of the UK equity sectors and the IMA High Yield for the bond sector. They returned 4.78% and 4.72% respectively.
Gary Potter, co-head of multi-manager at F&C Investments, said: “Returns from China, Smaller Companies and European related investment reinforces the ‘risk-on’ sentiment that we saw in the final quarter of last year. Benefiting from this, the best performing fund across the industry in Q4 2012, the Invesco Perpetual Japan Fund, rose 19.1% after a stunning rally by Japanese equities following the election of President Abe. Meanwhile, of the new funds launched in Q3 2012, the JPM Emerging Markets Income Fund was the best performing fund in Q4 2012, rising 6.7%.”
