End of recession gives European Smaller Companies scope to outperform in 2010

Smaller companies sector has significantly outperformed other IMA European fund sectors over past 12 months

The European Smaller Companies sector bounced back strongly from a difficult 2008 with all 14 funds in the category achieving returns higher than 39% over the last year, according to Morningstar. European equity markets saw further gains in December as investors continued to be encouraged by the ending of the recession in the eurozone, growth in emerging markets and good company earnings. There was some further rotation out of cyclicals and financials into more defensive and higher quality stocks. Consisting of stocks in the bottom 20% of market capitalisation, the IMA European Smalle...