Large cap global equities performed very strongly again over the quarter despite the soft global economic environment.

Gains were strongest in US equities over the past year, in part reflecting the relative strength of the US economy and the AI boom underway.

More interest rate sensitive parts of the market, including listed property, infrastructure, NZ equities and standard duration bonds took a breather this quarter.

Benchmarking Performances

Benchmarks are tools used to assess the performance of portfolios that we offer.
Different benchmarks are used to answer different questions.
The most important benchmark for an investor is the long-term return requirement.
Three variants of this benchmark are used in practice to reflect different types of investors. Performance against the required return benchmark is best compared over a medium-term time horizon.
Portfolio benchmarks include a Reference Portfolio benchmark, a Strategic Asset Allocation weighted benchmark, and a Peer group benchmark.
All of these benchmarks are used in our review processes to test the value-add of our asset allocation and fund manager selection choices.
Individual fund manager benchmarks mirror what we look at for portfolio level benchmarking.