Best and worst performing funds year to date
The table below shows the five best and five worst performing active funds in each sector in the sample over the course of 2021 to date.
| YTD total return % | YTD total return % | ||
| IA Asia Pacific Ex Japan | IA Europe Ex-UK | ||
| Matthews Asia Small Companies | 27.0 | BlackRock Continental European | 24.9 |
| JOHCM Asia ex-Japan Small & Mid-Cap | 21.2 | MI Chelverton European Select | 23.2 |
| Fidelity Asian Smaller Companies | 16.8 | MFS Meridian Continental European Equity | 21.1 |
| Barings ASEAN Frontiers | 16.0 | Liontrust European Growth | 20.2 |
| Aberdeen Standard Asian Smller Companies | 14.0 | FTF Martin Currie European Unconstrained | 19.9 |
| Templeton Asian Growth | -6.4 | VT Downing European Unconstrained Income | 5.6 |
| Ninety One Asia Pacific Franchise | -6.7 | Schroder European Alpha Plus | 5.5 |
| FTF Martin Currie Asia Unconstrained | -7.4 | Man GLG European Alpha Income | 4.6 |
| Legg Mason MC Asia Long Term Unconstrained | -7.7 | BMO Select European Equity | 2.2 |
| Janus Henderson Asia Pac Capital Growth | -8.7 | VT Argonaut European Alpha | 1.5 |
| IA Global | IA Global Emerging Markets | ||
| Equitile Resilience Feeder | 31.1 | Carmignac Pf Emerging Discovery | 23.7 |
| Denker Global Financial | 28.9 | Templeton Emerging Markets Smaller Companies | 23.6 |
| CCM Intelligent Wealth | 26.9 | FP Carmignac Emerging Discovery | 22.1 |
| MI Thornbridge Global Opportunities | 26.8 | Aberdeen Standard EM Smaller Companies | 16.9 |
| Montanaro Global Innovation | 26.8 | Artemis SmartGARP Global EM Equity | 13.4 |
| WS Charteris Global Macro | -1.7 | MI Somerset Global EM Markets Screened | -9.2 |
| Lindsell Train Global Equity | -2.2 | Wells Fargo WF EM Equity | -9.4 |
| Invesco Global Consumer Trends | -2.8 | MI Somerset Global Emerging Markets | -9.5 |
| Pictet Human | -10.4 | FP Carmignac Emerging Markets | -12.5 |
| Baillie Gifford Global Discovery | -16.0 | Carmignac Pf Emergents | -12.8 |
| IA Japan | IA North America | ||
| Man GLG Japan Core Alpha | 16.0 | VT De Lisle America | 34.1 |
| M&G Japan | 13.7 | Schroder QEP US Core | 30.8 |
| GS Japan Equity Partners | 13.6 | Royal London US Growth | 29.0 |
| Pictet-Japanese Equity Selection | 13.0 | Allianz Best Styles US Equity | 28.5 |
| LF Morant Wright Nippon Yield | 9.4 | JPM US Select Equity Plus A | 27.9 |
| T. Rowe Price Jap Equity | -7.8 | New Capital US Future Leaders | 9.9 |
| FTF Martin Currie Japan Equity | -9.5 | Baillie Gifford American | 9.6 |
| Nomura Fds Japan High Conviction | -10.8 | Wells Fargo WF US All Cap Growth | 8.2 |
| RWC Nissay Japan Focus | -15.7 | Wellington US Dynamic Equity | 7.2 |
| Lindsell Train Japanese Equity | -19.3 | Morgan Stanley US Advantage | 5.5 |
| IA UK All Companies | |||
| Artorius | 31.6 | ||
| Consistent Opportunities | 29.9 | ||
| Artemis SmartGARP UK Equity | 27.3 | ||
| VT Cape Wrath Focus | 25.5 | ||
| Allianz UK Listed Opportunities | 24.7 | ||
| M&G UK Select | 4.2 | ||
| Jupiter UK Mid Cap | 2.3 | ||
| Quilter Investors Equity | 0.2 | ||
| Baillie Gifford UK Equity Focus | -0.3 | ||
| Baillie Gifford UK Equity Alpha | -2.1 |
Source: Morningstar total return in GBP to 01/12/2021
Manager versus machine methodology
Our report analyses the performance and charges of around 800 open-ended retail funds across seven popular equity sectors. Using funds identified as the primary share class, we calculate the number of active funds that have beaten the median performance of passive funds in the same sector, and also compare the median returns for active funds in each sector. Over longer time periods the performance data does contain some survivorship bias, particularly for active funds, because underperforming funds will have tended to have been closed or merged. We have also calculated the median charges for both active and passive funds across the seven equity sectors.
