The 20 best and worst funds in a lacklustre first half

Equity markets around the world have struggled to make headway this year, with many major indices giving up gains made early on to leave them standing flat or down for 2012.

With the risk-on/risk-off trade dominating markets, early gains across indices including the FTSE 100, FTSE All Share, the French Cac 40, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng have all but vanished following the sell-off in May. As well as a near-flat return from most equity markets, commodities have sold off sharply. However, a number of fund managers have managed to negotiate the sell-off to post double-digit gains over the first half of the year. Why the winners are winning Pictet Biotech, run by Michael Sjöström at Sectoral Asset Management, has benefitted from its exposure to companies w...