According to data from FE, the top performing fund in August was the £100m Investec Global Gold Fund, which between 1 August to 1 September rose 10.55% as events in North Korea drove the price of gold to more than $1,300 an ounce.
Meanwhile, five emerging markets funds made the top 10 list of performers, while the Invesco Perpetual Japanese Smaller Companies fund produced the second best return for the month, rising 10.17%.
Indeed, from a sector standpoint, the IA Japanese Smaller Companies sector – which houses seven funds – produced the best mean return at 6.7%. This was followed by China (5.24%) and Global Emerging Markets (4.75%).
At the other end of the scale, the IA Targeted Absolute Return sector produced a meagre return of 0.62%, placing it the fifth worst performer of the month. Taking the honour for the worst return was Sterling High Yield, which rose just 0.11%.
From an individual fund perspective, August was not great for Woodford Equity Income Fund, which fell 4.01% during the period, making it the second worst performer behind MFM Techinvest Technology, which was down 8.25%.
Commenting on the performance, Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Financial Planning, said: “Don’t write Neil Woodford off just yet, but by his standards it is two dreadful months in a row with three of his biggest holdings having a torrid time.
“Riskier assets did well again, with emerging markets and Asia given decent returns. I have been positive on these sectors for a number of years now and continue to believe they offer excellent long term growth prospects.”
