Fund and investment trust winners in June 2021

Several Baillie Gifford funds featured among the top performers in June. 

In June, the rally in value and cyclical stocks slowed, with growth and technology firms continuing to regain their ground. As a result, funds focused on growth and tech shares were among the best performers.

For open-ended funds, Baillie Gifford American was the top performer, returning 16.7%. This was one of several Baillie Gifford funds to feature among the top performers in June. Baillie Gifford Health Innovation was the third-best performing open-ended fund, returning 15.7%. Meanwhile, Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth was in fifth place, with a return of 13.4%. For investment trusts, Baillie Gifford US Growth (LSE:USA) was the fourth-best performer, returning 14.5%.

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As Ben Yearsley, director of Shore Financial Planning notes: “You can always tell if it’s a risk-on month by the number of Baillie Gifford funds at the top of the tables. Last month, they had three in the top five with the BG American fund taking top spot [this month].”

The second-best performing open-ended fund was Morgan Stanley US Growth, with a return of 16.6%, while Liontrust Global Smaller Companies came in fourth place, with a return of almost 14%.

The worst performers, precious metal funds, were prominent. Baker Steel Gold & Precious Metals lost 13.6%, while Jupiter Gold & Silver lost 12.5%. This was driven by the poor performance of gold prices in June. With the US Federal Reserve signalling that they will raise interest rates earlier than expected, the price of gold declined. The yellow metal ended June at $1,773 per ounce, representing a decline of $135 over the course of the month.

There was less of an identifiable pattern among investment trusts. As Yearsley notes: “As usual, the investment trust world threw up more random names.”

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The best-performing investment trust was British & American (LSE:BAF), which provided a return of 32.3%. This was followed by Chrysalis (LSE:CHRY), a private equity-focused trust that tries to invest in private companies shortly before they go public. It provided investors with a 20% return over the course of the month.

In third place was Mobius Investment Trust (LSE:MMIT), which returned 16.1%. The trust, a member of interactive investor’s Super 60 rated list, is a specialist strategy designed to provide exposure to both emerging market smaller companies and frontier markets. It is run by highly regarded managers Mark Mobius and Carlos von Hardenberg, who have long and very successful track records of running similar emerging market mandates.  

As noted above, Baillie Gifford US Growth came in fourth place, riding the pick-up in growth and tech stocks. It was followed by Gresham House Strategic (LSE:GHS) in fifth place, which clocked a return of 12.9%.