Top 5/Bottom 5: Europe funds

As the Euro crisis rages on and every day brings more bailouts, bond buying and bickering among politicians, many investors are giving related investments a wide berth.

But European fund managers say there is value to be found in volatility, with many citing the cheaper rates they can buy global stocks on the stricken countries’ markets.

In what has become a day-by-day story, markets rallied in the past few weeks amid talks on new central bank growth measures, but large uncertainty remains. But pockets of value can still be found.

And it appears many funds are doing just that, with one-year data on the Europe ex-UK sector showing decent returns on some funds and an average growth over one year of 7.6%.

Threadneedle’s fund, which has been running for almost two years, has steered through the troubles well, returning 21% growth in just one year.

At the bottom end of the table, while there have been losses, they are not as catastrophic as many would assume. HSBC’s GIF Euroland Equity fund actually held 15 of the 20 bottom spots, in various guises and currency hedges.

Top/Bottom five IMA Europe ex UK funds, one year performance
Top 5
Threadneedle European exUK Growth Instl Hedge Inc	£1,210
Allianz Continental European A	£1,194
JPM Europe Dynamic (ex-UK) A Acc GBP Hdg	£1,188
Jupiter European	£1,172
AXA Framlington European Inc	£1,168
Bottom 5
HSBC GIF Euroland Equity A GBP	£970
HSBC European Growth Retail Acc	£976
HSBC European Growth Retail Inc	£976
CF Odey Continental European R Acc	£989
CF Odey Continental European I Inc	£994
Sector average	£1,076
Based on £1,000 initial investment, to 28th August 2012 on cumulative basis