Best and worst: UK gilt & fixed interest unit trusts
THE average UK gilt and fixed-interest unit trust has returned a profit of 8.6 per cent after front-end charges in the past 12 months, compared with little more than 1 per cent on the average UK equity growth trust.
Over the past year, three years and five years, gilts have out-performed the UK equity indices as investors have sought fixed-interest rates.
The N & P Gilt & Fixed Interest Fund has missed out because 25 per cent of its money is in convertibles. These company bonds, convertible into shares, suffer when shares are in trouble.
Acuma's fund invests in index-linked gilts, designed to give automatic protection against inflation, and these have not performed as well in the past year as other gilts.
But Michael Brooks of Phillips & Drew Fund Management says: 'There may be other assets that do better than index-linked gilts, but nowhere else can you be sure the real value of your savings will increase.'
At Fidelity, Martin Wooller says his team foresaw the bull market in gilts early. He believes the bull market in sterling bonds could continue for another 18 months.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ UK gilt & fixed interest unit trusts ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The best pounds 1 Fidelity Gilt & Fixed Interest 118.71 2 Exeter Zero Preference 116.60 3 Gartmore Preference 114.30 4 Whittingdale Gilt Growth 114.11 5 Barclays Unicorn Gilt Fixed Int 112.65 The worst 50 Henderson Fixed Interest 104.14 51 Cornhill Gilt & Fixed Interest 103.47 52 Mercury Government Securities 102.39 53 N&P Gilt & Fixed Interest 101.96 54 Acuma Index Linked Gilt 100.35 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Value of 100 pounds invested over 12 months to 1 July, offer-to-bid, with income reinvested ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Source: Micropal ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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