Your portfolio
Many of the best-performing funds of the
2000s ended up losing money in the decade
that followed. Rebecca Jones finds out if
they are ready to bounce back
Where are
they now?
[ BEST/WORST FUNDS ]
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BEST-PERFORMING FUNDS 2000-2010
Name
01/01/2000 to 31/12/2009 (%)
01/01/2010 to 31/12/2019 (%)
BlackRock Gold & General 684.11 -5.5
JPM Natural Resources 613.48 -17.46
BlackRock GF World Mining 526.85 -20.5
BlackRock GF Latin American 445.77 18.76
Scottish Widows Latin American 393.99 14.18
MSCI World -2.6 201.24
Source: FE Analytics
Mining
T
he early 2000s was a heady time.
Britney Spears was riding high in the
charts, Britannia was cool again and
the commodity super cycle was in full
swing. China was the growth story of the decade,
with its gargantuan infrastructure boom sending
stocks in resource-rich Latin America sky-high.
Then, in 2008, the world saw a financial crisis to
end all others, and gold went through the roof.
However, the following 10 years couldn’t have
been more different. As global economic fears
dissipated and walls of easy money hit developed
markets, investors went back to the future as they
attempted to grab the tech bull run by the horns.
Natural resources, gold and emerging markets were
hammered. However, as we enter a new decade
facing fresh challenges, could it be time for these
stoical sectors to shine again?
TRUSTNET
Funds invested in the natural
resources sector delivered
spectacular returns back in the
2000s. JPM Natural Resources, for
example, made 613 per cent over the
decade-long period, while BlackRock
GF World Mining was up 527 per
cent. This put them in second and
third place in the IA universe over
this time.
Yet as investors in these funds will
know all too well, the good times
didn’t last, with both losing about
20 per cent in the 2010s. During this
period, tech became king, with the
likes of Microsoft, Google and Apple
sharing the crown.
While there is little chance
of this trend reversing, Darius
McDermott, managing director of
Chelsea Financial Services, believes
technological innovation could
create new opportunities for natural
resources in the 2020s.
“ESG [environmental, social and
governance] will be the theme of the
decade, while carbon will face a tough
time,” he says. “However, electric
vehicles need lithium and tech needs
copper, and so the drive towards
a zero-carbon economy could be
supportive for miners.”
As a case in point, McDermott
highlights a recent announcement
from Glencore’s chief executive, Ivan
Glasenberg, on his plans to expand
copper production and sell the firm’s
coal assets on the first reasonable bid.
trustnet.com