Having an above-average allocation to global shares pushed ANZ’s OneAnswer Growth Fund to the top of the Melville Jessup Weaver KiwiSaver performance charts.
The quarterly survey reports on the performance and risk characteristics of the majority of New Zealand’s investment funds.
It found the OneAnswer Growth KiwiSaver fund returned 19.9% in the 12 months ended December, compared to an average of 17.8% for growth funds.
MJW principal Mark Weaver said the performance of the OneAnswer Growth Fund’s performance was boosted by the fund’s high allocation to growth assets, nearly 83%, and the strong performance from the underlying global shares.
“It was a good year for sharemarket investors with global markets up 27% and the NZX50 up 17.9%,” he said.
Global bond markets were up just 2.2% and the local government bond index was in negative territory because of the New Zealand economy’s strong outlook.
Of the balanced funds, the OneAnswer offering also topped the sector, with a return of 16.3% against an average 12.5%.
The fund had nearly 68% in growth assets, a reasonably high level for a balanced fund.
The best performing conservative fund was Mercer’s. It was up 7.4% and had a 38% allocation to cash.
Weaver said over the last one-, three- and five-year periods KiwiSaver funds have performed in line with their risk profiles.
Average annual returns over the five years to December 31 for growth, balanced and conservative options were 10.6%, 9.1% and 6.2% respectively.
“With the major market dislocation of the global financial crisis now five years behind us, it seems asset class returns are starting to conform again with long-term historical trends,” he said.