Most of the 44 Morningstar Canada fund indices, which measure the aggregate returns of funds in various standard categories, saw minimal movement in the month of October.
Thirty-two of them had performance ranging between -1% and 1%, including most broadly diversified equity categories and all 12 indices that track balanced or target-date categories, according to preliminary performance data released Wednesday by Toronto-based Morningstar Research Inc.
The top- and bottom-performing fund indices were both sector-specific category trackers. The financial services equity fund index increased 3.4%, while the precious metals equity fund index decreased 5.4%.
Among broadly diversified equity fund indices, the best performer was the one that tracks the emerging markets equity category, with a 1.9% gain, followed by Asia Pacific equity, up 0.8%. Among the worst performers was the European equity fund index, down 2.3%. The global equity and global small/mid cap equity fund indices both decreased 0.4%, while international equity and Greater China equity were both down 0.6%.
The Canadian equity fund index increased 0.6% in October, in line with the S&P/TSX composite index. Two other domestic equity fund indices had positive results for the month: Canadian dividend and income equity and Canadian focused equity, up 0.5% and 0.03%, respectively. The Canadian focused small/mid cap equity and Canadian small/mid cap equity fund Indices were down 0.9% and 1.4%, respectively.
Funds in the U.S. equity category collectively posted a 0.5% decrease, outperforming the S&P 500 Index which decreased 1.8% in October. Currency movements between the Canadian and U.S. dollars were a factor, as the loonie depreciated by more than 2% versus its U.S. counterpart during the month. Meanwhile, the U.S. small/mid cap equity fund index decreased 1.6%.
Fixed-income funds had mixed results in October. The best-performing fixed-income categories were preferred share fixed Income and floating rate loans, up 2.5% and 0.7%, respectively, while the worst performer was Canadian long term fixed income with a 2.4% decrease. The fund index that tracks the largest category, Canadian fixed income, decreased 0.8% during the month.
Morningstar’s preliminary fund performance figures are based on change in funds’ net asset values per share during the month, and do not necessarily include end-of-month income distributions. Final performance figures will be published next week.