OneAnswer KiwiSaver Scheme Growth Fund

Performance is after the annual fund charge and before tax. Legal information and disclaimers.

• It was a good quarter across the board for investment markets, with most global share markets finishing higher, while bonds also had a strong period.  
• Global share markets were mostly higher during the quarter, helped in part by interest rate cuts from several central banks, including the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
• In the US, the S&P 500 rose 5.9%, while the NASDAQ 100 was up 2.8%. At a sector level, real estate was a strong performer (benefiting from lower bond yields), while utilities and consumer discretionary also outperformed. The energy sector ended the quarter lower, weighed down by falling oil prices. Meanwhile, European shares were higher, but gains were more muted. And in New Zealand, the NZX 50 rose 6%. The interest-rate-sensitive market tends to perform well when bond yields decline.
• Asian markets made a strong comeback late in the quarter after the People’s Bank of China announced a stimulus package to help alleviate deflationary concerns and shore up the flailing property market. The package included interest rate cuts and a reduction in the reserve requirement ratio – the amount of cash banks must hold as reserves. That should free up about 1 trillion yuan for lending. By the end of the quarter, the Shanghai Composite was up 14.3%.
• In fixed interest, Global government bond markets delivered strong gains over the quarter, with most developed central banks cutting interest rates as inflation trended toward target rates. Meanwhile, New Zealand bond markets also had a strong quarter, helped in part by the 25-basis-point cut in the Official Cash Rate by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The cut came as economic data showed the local economy continues to struggle. 
• Our underweight position to cash benefited fund performance over the quarter. Cash is a defensive asset and tends to outperform in times of market volatility and equity sell-offs, so with shares and bonds turning in good returns, cash underperformed. 
• Other positives were the fund’s listed infrastructure and domestic property holdings, which performed well over the quarter. However, this was partially offset by negative stock selection from our international equity managers – notably, underweight positions to several strong-performing tech companies.

The fund aims to achieve (after the fund charge and before tax) over the long term high returns, allowing for large ups and downs in value.

The graph below shows the value of a $1,000 investment made at the time the fund launched.

Performance is after the annual fund charge and before tax. Legal information and disclaimers.

The fund invests mainly in growth assets (equities, listed property and listed infrastructure), with a smaller exposure to income assets (cash and cash equivalents and fixed interest). The fund may also invest in alternative assets.

This chart shows the mix of assets that the fund generally intends to invest in.