Poor resources performance a drag on growth options

The poor performance of resource stocks dragged the performance of growth options below value-style options in the September quarter, according to Morningstar's managed fund performance league tables.

Overall however, the median large-cap Australian share fund increased 8.68 per cent, Morningstar said.

"Value-style large-cap share funds outperformed their growth and blend counterparts, because of their lower allocations to the volatile resources sector," Morningstar senior research analyst Brook Sweeney said.

Active small-cap fund managers fared even better, increasing average returns by 8.95 per cent and outperforming the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index by 1.70 per cent - but returns varied wildly, ranging from 18 per cent down to 2.11 per cent.

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Hedged funds benefitted from the high Australian dollar, although international share funds returned well below the median large-cap manager at just over 5 per cent.

Australian listed property funds outperformed global listed property and international equities, returning 6.43 per cent compared with 3.85 per cent and 5.05 per cent respectively. Many global property funds outperformed the benchmark when fees were taken out of the equation.

Inflation-linked bond funds gained from an unexpected short-term inflationary uptick as a result of increased energy prices, Morningstar said.

While bonds rallied over the quarter, funds with shorter durations and longer credit positions were best placed to take advantage of positive market sentiment that also impacted positively on global bond funds with high exposures to credit risk.