With thanks to research firm Lipper, Money Post ranks the top and bottom performing mutual funds based on first-half performance. All returns are net of fees and all funds are approved for sale in Hong Kong.
The funds are a snapshot of sentiment - they show where investors' dollars are flowing.
The first-half performance of mutual funds shows the following trends: investors are going into emerging markets that are isolated from China and the euro zone, and are putting money into property and biotech. They are taking money out of resources, largely on the view that the China slowdown will continue to depress prices for industrial commodities. The euro-zone crisis is dampening demand for gold and fuelling nervousness about the global economy.
For example, four of the top 10 performing funds are focused on emerging markets equities, three are invested in Asia-Pacific property and there are two biotechnology funds.
The bottom 10 funds skew towards gold, natural resources and energy. This fits the prevailing talk of a global economic slowdown, which suggests lower consumption and lower prices for core industrial commodities such as iron ore, copper and oil.
The top 10 funds show that emerging markets still pay out, but that some markets are emerging more than others. The BRICS markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are out of favour, thanks to slowing growth seen in those nations.
A new wave of fast-growing economies has stepped in. Turkish equities are the top performer of the survey group, a Philippines fund is number two and there are two Vietnamese funds in the top 10.