Morningstar Canada Reports Fourth-Quarter 2009 Institutional Pooled Fund
Performance
Thirty-nine of the 41 Morningstar
Pooled funds that allocate significant portions of their portfolios to natural resources did particularly well in the fourth quarter. The Canadian Small/Mid Cap Equity pooled fund index, with a combined weight of 47.3% in the energy and materials sectors, ranked second with a gain of 11.3%, while the Canadian Focused Small/Mid Cap Equity index (45.6% in resources) was third with a 10.4% gain. The index that tracks the Natural Resources Equity category was fourth with a 9.8% gain, while Income Trust Equity (36.5% in resources) was fifth with 7.3%. Of the 56 pooled funds that comprise these five categories, 35 posted double-digit gains for the quarter. The best performer with an 18.8% gain was Desjardins MB Canadian Small Cap Equity, while the worst was Floyd Growth, up 3.4%.
The fund index that tracks the Canadian Equity category - the largest among all equity pooled fund categories in terms of both number of funds and assets under management - gained 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Returns among the 137 funds in that category ranged from 1.0% for Kingwest Canadian Equity Portfolio to 9.8% for RBC Private O'Shaughnessy Canadian Equity Pool.
Among the three largest foreign equity categories, the U.S. Equity pooled fund index gained 3.6% for the quarter, ranking 17th overall, while Global Equity returned 3% (ranking 21st), and International Equity was up 0.5% (ranking 36th). The best-performing individual foreign fund was Goodman U.S. Equity Growth Currency Neutral, up 15.9%. The only equity-based pooled fund index to lose ground in the fourth quarter was Japanese Equity with an 8.8% loss. This essentially matches the return of the larger of the category's only two funds, Burgundy Asian, which was also the worst performer among all individual funds for the quarter.
Morningstar
Morningstar Ratings Update
As of
The Morningstar Rating(TM) is an objective, quantitative measure of a fund's historical risk-adjusted performance relative to other pooled funds in its category. Only funds with at least a three-year track record are considered. Funds are rated on the basis of three-, five-, and 10-year track records, as available, which are then combined for an overall rating. A fund can only be rated if there are a sufficient number of funds in its peer group to allow comparison for at least three years.
About Morningstar
Morningstar Research Inc. is a Canadian subsidiary of Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research in
For further information: Christian Charest, Associate Editor, Morningstar Canada, (416) 484-7817
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