CASH FUNDS PERFORMANCE
The RBA’s overnight cash rate target remained unchanged during April at 0.10%. 3-month BBSW finished the month 48bps higher at 0.71% while 6-month BBSW jumped by 74bps to at 1.45%. Expectations again moved to reflect a considerably steeper path for the actual cash rate over the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023. At the end of the month, contracts implied the actual cash rate would rise from the current rate of 0.06% to 3.23% by June 2023.
One month returns for cash funds have become so low a comparison of them has become somewhat redundant. As such, no ranking of them will take place.
| AUSTRALIAN CASH FUNDS | 1m (%) | 3m (%) | 1y (%) | 3y (%) | 5y (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Cash Management Trust | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 0.36 |
| BT Premium Cash | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.36 | 0.88 |
| IOOF Cash Management Trust | -0.02 | -0.03 | -0.04 | 0.48 | 1.09 |
| Perpetual Cash Management | n/a | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.32 | 0.56 |
| Sandhurst Cash Common Fund | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.13 | 0.40 |
| UBS Cash | -0.04 | -0.03 | -0.02 | 0.36 | 0.94 |
Over the twelve months to the end of April, the Adelaide Bank Cash Management Trust remained the top-performing cash fund. The Adelaide Bank trust returned 0.13% on an annual basis while the Perpetual Cash Management Trust was next with a return of 0.05%.
The benchmark Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill index returned -0.02% over the month and 0.02% over the 12 months to the end of April. The Adelaide Bank fund outperformed this benchmark over a 1-year time period but underperformed over periods of 3 years and 5 years.
ENHANCED CASH FUNDS PERFORMANCE
The Sandhurst Strategic income (Class A) Fund took over as the highest-returning enhanced cash fund in the April survey. The Sandhurst fund produced a return of 0.12% for the month while the Vanguard Cash Reserve Fund and the AMP Capital Managed Treasury Fund both produced returns of -0.04%, making them the equal second–highest returning funds in the sector.
The return of only the Sandhurst fund outperformed the -0.02% return produced by the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill index over April. However, all three funds’ returns exceeded the -0.05% return produced by the AusBond FRN index.
In terms of performance over the twelve months to the end of April, the Realm Short Term Income Fund retained its title as the highest performing fund by producing a return of 0.80%. The BT Enhanced Cash Fund produced the next-highest performance for this period with a return of 0.06% while the Pendal Wholesale Enhanced Cash Fund produced a return of -0.03% to rank third for a second consecutive month.
The Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill and FRN indices returned -0.02% and -0.16% respectively over the 12-month period to the end of April. All three funds’ returns outperformed the FRN index for this period but only the Realm and the BT funds outperformed the Bank Bill index.
| AUSTRALIAN ENHANCED CASH FUNDS | ASX mFund | 1m (%) | 3m (%) | 1y (%) | 3y (%) | 5y (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMP Capital Managed Treasury | -0.04 | -0.15 | -0.10 | 0.48 | 1.09 | |
| Antares Income Fund | ANT01 | -0.05 | -0.69 | -0.74 | 0.90 | 1.55 |
| Australian Ethical Cash Trust | -0.12 | -0.25 | -0.24 | 0.45 | 0.92 | |
| BT Enhanced Cash | n/a | -0.01 | 0.06 | 0.75 | 1.28 | |
| BT Wholesale Enhanced Cash | -0.07 | -0.25 | -0.03 | 1.09 | 1.71 | |
| Dimensional Short Term Fixed Interest | -0.39 | -0.94 | -1.29 | 0.10 | 0.86 | |
| Fiducian Capital Safe | -0.08 | -0.18 | -0.21 | 0.34 | 0.90 | |
| IOOF MultiMix Cash Enhanced Trust | -0.23 | -0.55 | -0.51 | 0.71 | 1.33 | |
| Legg Mason Western Asset Conservative Income Fund | -0.16 | -0.46 | -0.52 | 0.62 | 1.24 | |
| MIF | -0.12 | -0.74 | -0.44 | 1.04 | 1.75 | |
| MLC Wholesale Horizon 1 Bond Portfolio | -0.39 | -1.58 | -2.11 | 0.15 | 0.92 | |
| Henderson Cash Enhanced Trust | -0.40 | -0.82 | -0.81 | 0.85 | 1.48 | |
| Perpetual High Grade Treasury | -0.15 | -0.60 | -0.29 | 1.39 | 2.01 | |
| Prime Value Enhanced Income Fund | -0.16 | -0.16 | -0.13 | 0.97 | 1.86 | |
| Realm Short Term Income Fund | RLM02 | -0.14 | -0.40 | 0.80 | 2.03 | n/a |
| Sandhurst Strategic Income A | 0.12 | -0.29 | -0.39 | 0.86 | 1.39 | |
| Smarter Money Active Cash Fund | -0.26 | -0.20 | -0.98 | 1.00 | 1.59 | |
| UBS Cash Plus | -0.12 | -0.23 | -0.18 | 0.62 | 1.30 | |
| Vanguard Cash Reserve | -0.04 | -0.06 | -0.14 | 0.31 | 0.91 | |
| Vanguard Cash Plus | -0.33 | -0.65 | -0.76 | 0.41 | 1.08 | |
| Bloomberg AusBond Bank 0+Y TR AUD | -0.02 | -0.01 | 0.02 | 0.40 | 0.99 |
*End of April 2022. Return in AUD after fees.