US market wrong-foots global equity managers in H1

The majority of global equity funds underperformed the market in the first half of 2012, with many managers wrong-footed by the US outperformance.

Some 336 funds trailed the MSCI World index, in dollar terms, out of a universe of 560 funds screened by Style Research, providing a median negative return of 0.3%. The findings said: "The majority of funds in our peer group of representative global equity funds underperformed the market over the first half of 2012. In general terms the range of returns is wider from stock pickng than from allocation to either countries, sectors or styles, indicating that stock selection provided greater opportunities to add or lose value." Three quarters of the funds got their positions in the US wro...