ARC’s private client indices, which are based on real performance numbers delivered to private clients by DFMs, estimate strong annual returns for investors in cautious, balanced, growth and risk portfolios last year.
The firm said the estimates should give a good indication of how the final private client indices should look for Q4 and 2012 as a whole, with the finalised figures due to be published in around six weeks’ time.
Discretionaries are estimated to have returned 1.2% for cautious investors in the fourth quarter, taking annual gains to 5.9%, while balanced investors are predicted to have seen returns of 1.8% in Q4 and 8.1% for the full year.
Meanwhile, the ARC Steady Growth private client index shows estimated returns of 2.2% for the final quarter and 9.3% for all of 2012.
Finally, equity risk portfolios are deemed to have returned approximately 2.5% in the fourth quarter and 10.2% over the year.
If proved correct in the final estimates, the positive close to the year follows a strong rally in the first quarter, negative returns in the second quarter and a healthy rebound in the third quarter.
In comparison to the estimated healthy returns for 2012 as a whole, 2011 saw losses ranging from -0.5% for cautious investors to -5.9% for risky investors.
Cautious investors are estimated to have seen the greatest returns over five years, with the cautious private client index estimated to have gained investors 16.2% over that timeframe, while the equity risk private client index is predicted to have gained only 11.9% over the equivalent period.
Over three years that scenario is reversed, with equity risk portfolios returning 18.2% and cautious portfolios up by 12.5%.
