Moneyspider in the News
07/04/2008
Thousands hit by stock market turbulence
What Investment
Hundreds of thousands of investors with
some of the UK's biggest and most popular funds have been hit hard
in the wake of the global stock market turbulence. Many investors with
PEPs, ISAs and unit trusts have seen the value of their holdings 'knocked
for six'.
However, according to online investment
fund performance analyst Moneyspider.com, those that have invested
in some of the most popular funds have been hit far worse than others
in their sector.
Over the course of the past 12 months,
hugely popular funds run by the likes of banking giant HSBC and leading
investment houses Gartmore, Morgan Stanley and AXA have suffered steep
losses - while rival, more resilient funds, have weathered the turbulent
storms pretty well.
In the equity income sector, for example,
HSBC's massive equity income fund suffered a 12.5 per cent fall in
value over the past 12 months. Yet, if income-seeking investors had
been with rival Invesco Perpetual's High Income fund, they would have
lost just 6 per cent of their investment over the period.
Moneyspider.com's media consultant,
Tony Ahearne, explains, 'Investors need to be especially vigilant
at this difficult time in the markets. Any fool can make money in the
good times. But here we are concerned with the fund managers who have
that instinct for survival and have helped to steer their investors
through very choppy waters since the US credit squeeze began to ripple
through to global stock market funds.'
He adds, 'If you hold PEPs or ISAs
in the popular equity income sector, for example, you could be losing
four times more money by being in the wrong fund.'
The diverse UK All Companies sector has
also been badly mauled in the downturn of the past six months
- but again Ahearne warns that it is crucial to pick the right fund
in the sector, so as not to lose money.
According to Moneyspider.com's
research, the pick of the popular sectors is Europe excluding the UK,
with funds such as Scottish Widows' European Growth and Fidelity's
European Opportunities actually making modest gains.
But Ahearne points out that this sector
is not without its problems; 'Pick the wrong fund, like Aberdeen's
European Growth, and you will be down by almost nine per cent year on
year.'
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