Thames River duo reveal best and worst funds over Q4

Thames River multi-manager duo Gary Potter and Rob Burdett have revealed the best and worst funds and sectors during the last quarter of the year, with absolute returns funds coming under fire once more.

The duo's quarterly Fund Watch report, which uses Lipper data to analyse fund and sector performance, showed the IMA Absolute Return sector was the fifth worst sector over the three months to 31 December 2011, falling 0.2%, and down 1.2% for the year. Potter said in a quarter that was generally not brilliant for returns and a year that was certainly not positive for equities, these funds ought to have done considerably better. "The idea is that they hold up better when equities are struggling, which does not seem to have been the case during 2011. With returns on cash still negligible...