Thematic: Small caps struggle globally

Having been the favourite area of the global market for the past couple of years, smaller companies ...

Having been the favourite area of the global market for the past couple of years, smaller companies have disappointed over the summer months. Over three months to 14 August, every single fund in the IMA’s 55-strong UK Smaller Companies sector posted a negative bid to bid return, the worst posting a loss of 16.2% while the best return meant limiting losses to 1%. Not one fund in the European, Japanese and North American Smaller Companies sectors, which combined total 32 portfolios, achieved positive gains either, although some regions fared worse than others. The average fund in the Japane...