The Hostplus Indexed Balanced option was the top performing option in the SR50 Balanced (60-76) Index of the last financial year, according to SuperRatings.
It returned 12.2 per cent for the year ending June 2024.
This was closely followed by Raiz Super’s Moderately Aggressive option and Colonial First State’s Enhanced Index Balanced option, returning 12.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively.
SuperRatings noted balanced funds are those with a strategic allocation of between 60 per cent to 76 per cent of their portfolio invested in growth assets.
According to its analysis, the rest of the top 10 performing options were:
Funds with a higher exposure to shares and listed assets generally outperformed for the year, in a repeat of 2023, the research house observed.
Meanwhile, “those with greater exposure to unlisted property reported more subdued outcomes,” it explained.
“As a result, members who were invested in index funds generally outperformed more actively managed options, given the strong focus on, and allocation towards, listed shares.”
Broadly, SuperRatings observed an “impressive” year of returns, fuelled by Australian banking and international technology shares. This was despite a staggered start to the year.
“Concerns over inflation caused a slow start to the year, with multiple negative monthly returns recorded until October 2023,” it explained.
“Increased confidence in the outlook for inflation and ongoing developments in artificial intelligence led a market rally from November to March and while higher than expected inflation data led to a stumble in April, returns recovered quickly to finish the year strong.”
The strength of the US economy has driven “an extremely pleasing” result for the Australian sovereign wealth fund.
The industry superannuation fund-owned global private markets manager is set to launch three new private market strategies backed by the UK’s largest pension scheme.
The $92 billion fund has pinpointed key megatrends that are expected to disrupt markets in the coming years.
Brighter Super’s Index Balanced pension option delivered 16.76 per cent in calendar year 2024, while its Stable pension option returned 8.02 per cent.