Key Takeaways
- Among Morningstar-rated funds, T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity was the best performing in May, while L&G Global Infrastructure Index was the worst.
- Out of 305 Medalist-rated funds, 301 posted positive returns in May.
- Three trackers focused on Asia-Pacific equities are the best performing funds in the year to date.
Another positive month for global tech stocks, Asia-Pacific equities, and emerging markets was reflected at the top of the leaderboard for UK-domiciled funds in May.
Some 305 funds have a Morningstar Medalist Rating and three of these posted monthly returns of around 20%: T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity, Fidelity Asia, and Baillie Gifford Global Discovery. Three Gold-rated funds were among the top 20 best performers in May, including Fidelity Responsible Asia Equity, which posted gains of 12.70%.
T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity is a £1.1 billion fund which has a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Silver. The fund is heavily exposed to the artificial intelligence hardware boom, with Broadcom AVGO, Nvidia NVDA, Advanced Micro Devices AMD, and Intel INTC, among the top portfolio weightings.
This fund is the fifth-best performer in the year to date with a gain of 44.09%. Just ahead of T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity are three Bronze-rated funds with a focus on Asia-Pacific and gains of around 50%: iShares Pacific ex Japan Equity Index, L&G Pacific Index, and HSBC Pacific Index Retail.
“Manager Dominic Rizzo has made timely moves into artificial intelligence-related investments, making the strategy compelling at the right price point,” says Morningstar fund analyst Indira Fisher.
The Morningstar Asia Pacific Index was up 7.40% in May in US dollar terms and 21.27% in the year to the end of May. Excluding Japan from the indexes shows higher return figures: The Morningstar Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index was 8.67% higher in May, with gains of 23.47% in the year to date.
Just four funds posted negative returns in May and they saw modest losses: The worst-performing fund, Gold-rated L&G Infrastructure Index, lost 1.75% last month.
Among the 305 funds with a Morningstar Medalist Rating and full analyst coverage, 301 posted positive returns in May and just four saw negative returns.
In the year to date, 40 funds have posted negative returns, but just three of these have lost more than 10%. All three of these are India-focused funds, including Stewart Investors Indian Subcontinent AllCap, Jupiter India, and FSSA Indian Subcontinent AllCap. The Morningstar India Index is down nearly 10% in US dollar terms as the former emerging market favorite struggles with higher energy costs and capital flows toward Asia-Pacific countries with stronger AI credentials.
