The 10-year Australian Treasury bond yield trended upwards for the first three weeks of the August, with some quite-noticeable daily moves along the way, before going sideways over the final week. By the end of the month, the 3-year ACGB yield had gained 51bps to 3.28%, the 10-year yield had added 53bps to 3.61% while the 20-year yield finished 45bps higher at 3.88%..
As a result, conditions facing fund managers in August were worse than those in June. The FRN Index was the best performer after it returned 0.35% for the month. The Corporate Bond Index produced the second-highest return of -1.42%, while the Composite Index, representing a mix of federal, state and corporate bonds was next with a return of -2.54%. The Treasury Index, representing Commonwealth bonds, returned -2.75% and the Semi-Government Index returned -2.82%.
Of the 31 managers in the YieldReport survey, only 4 produced positive results and the month’s median return was -2.50%.
The Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund produced a return of 0.61% in the August survey, making it the highest returning fund for the month. The Realm Strategic Income (Enduring Units) Fund’s return of 0.50% was the next-highest while the Artesian Corporate Bond Fund was third with a return of 0.38%.
On a 12-month basis, the Realm Strategic Income Fund (Enduring Units) retained its title as the highest performing fund in August. The Realm fund returned 5.00% while the next highest return came from the Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund with a return of 4.31%. The Spectrum Strategic Income Fund had the third-highest 12-month performance with a return of -0.20%.
| AUSTRALIAN FIXED INTEREST | ASX mFund | 1m (%) | 3m (%) | 1y (%) | 3y (%) | 5y (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advance Aus Fixed Intr Multi-Blend | -2.58 | -1.05 | -13.11 | -4.05 | -0.27 | |
| AMP Capital Corporate Bond | ACA02 | 0.17 | -0.01 | -1.96 | 0.93 | 1.73 |
| Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund | 0.61 | 1.18 | 4.31 | 4.30 | 4.76 | |
| AMP Flex Lifetime S2-AMP Australian Bond | -2.49 | -1.15 | -13.05 | -3.91 | 0.12 | |
| AMP Generations BlackRock Aust Fixed Interest Index | -2.64 | -1.04 | -12.47 | -4.21 | -0.20 | |
| Altius Sustainable Bond Fund | -1.11 | -0.12 | -5.58 | -2.00 | 0.12 | |
| Artesian Corporate Bond Fund | 0.38 | 0.26 | -2.70 | 0.73 | 1.97 | |
| Pendal Enhanced Credit (Wholesale) | -1.33 | -0.58 | -9.19 | -1.63 | 1.34 | |
| BT Fixed Interest Retail | -0.92 | -0.22 | -11.27 | -3.53 | 0.16 | |
| Pendal Fixed Interest (Wholesale) | -2.51 | -0.88 | -11.87 | -3.28 | 0.66 | |
| Pendal Government Bond | -2.64 | -0.77 | -11.96 | -3.31 | 0.97 | |
| CFS Aberdeen Australian Fixed Interest | -2.49 | -0.88 | -12.35 | -3.80 | -0.10 | |
| CFS Wholesale Australian Bond | -2.53 | -1.11 | -11.68 | -3.06 | 0.76 | |
| DDH Fixed Interest | -2.67 | -0.46 | -11.83 | -3.05 | 0.86 | |
| Spectrum Strategic Income | SPE01 | 0.23 | 0.27 | -0.20 | 1.02 | 2.40 |
| Jamieson Coote Bonds Active | -2.72 | -0.62 | -12.66 | -3.84 | 0.70 | |
| Legg Mason Western Asset Australian Bond Trust | LMA04 | -2.57 | -0.87 | -12.21 | -3.25 | 0.91 |
| Macquarie Australian Fixed Interest | -2.37 | -0.67 | -11.88 | -3.09 | 0.98 | |
| Mercer Australian Sovereign Bond Fund | -2.69 | -0.71 | -12.28 | -3.88 | 0.88 | |
| Nikko AM Australian Bond | -2.78 | -1.00 | -12.18 | -3.25 | 0.97 | |
| Henderson Australian Fixed Interest (Inst) | -2.60 | -0.73 | -12.88 | -2.77 | 0.93 | |
| Henderson Tactical Income | -0.45 | 0.34 | -2.33 | 0.77 | 1.67 | |
| Perpetual WFIA-Schroder Fixed Income | -2.70 | -0.93 | -13.16 | -3.53 | 0.26 | |
| Perpetual WFIA-Vanguard Aust Fixed Interest Index | -2.53 | -0.88 | -11.72 | -3.86 | 0.00 | |
| PIMCO Australian Bond (Wholesale) | PMF04 | -2.42 | -0.84 | -12.11 | -3.22 | 0.67 |
| PIMCO Australian Focus (Wholesale) | PMF05 | -1.64 | -0.27 | -6.77 | -1.44 | 0.98 |
| Realm High Income (Wholesale) | -0.13 | -0.14 | -1.32 | 2.54 | 3.11 | |
| Realm Strategic Income - Enduring Units | 0.50 | 1.23 | 5.00 | n/a | n/a | |
| SSgA Australian Fixed Income | -2.54 | -0.82 | -11.67 | -3.31 | 0.82 | |
| UBS Australian Bond Fund | -2.40 | -0.89 | -12.10 | -3.49 | 0.70 | |
| Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Index | UAM04 | -2.54 | -0.82 | -11.64 | -3.35 | 0.75 |
| Vanguard Australian Govt Bond Index | -2.77 | -0.89 | -12.32 | -3.71 | 0.69 | |
| Bloomberg AusBond Composite 0+YR AUD | -2.54 | -0.76 | -11.50 | -3.14 | 0.97 |
*End of August 2022. Return in AUD after fees