The median growth (61% to 80% in growth assets) superannuation fund grew 2.2% during April, bringing the first 10 months of the financial year to 14.7%, according to Chant West.
Both domestic and international shares were the main drivers of the month’s performance with Australian shares up 3.7%, and international shares up 4.1% in hedged terms, and 3.2% in unhedged terms as the Australian dollar appreciated during the month.
Chant West senior investment research manager, Mano Mohankumar, said: “Should growth funds finish the year at or around the end-April level, it would represent the highest annual return since 2012/13 when they surged 15.6%.
“They’ve shown their resilience – as we saw last financial year when they limited the COVID-induced damage to post a small loss of 0.6% – and now they’ve shown their powers of recovery.
“The cumulative return since the end of March last year is about 22%, which is astonishing given the health concerns, disruptions and economic damage caused by COVID-19. It also means that we’re more than 7% above the pre-COVID crisis high that was reached at the end of January 2020.”
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