MPFGo, a mandatory provident fund analysis platform, has released its July 2026 monthly performance study. As of July 29, the East Asia China Tracker Index Fund posted the highest monthly return at 14.67%, while the Haitong Korea Fund-T Class recorded a loss of 34.26%, creating a performance gap of 48.93% between the two.
The average return of the top ten funds was +13.18%, while the average return of the ten worst-performing funds was -20.24%, resulting in an average divergence of 33.42%. This highlights significant divergence in performance across different market and regional funds.
All of July's top ten gainers were linked to the Hong Kong or mainland China stock markets, with each achieving double-digit gains. The East Asia China Tracker Index Fund led with a 14.67% increase, followed by the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Fund at 14.38%. Both the Manulife MPF Hang Seng ESG Fund and My Hong Kong Tracker Index Fund each rose by 12.88%, while the Hang Seng Index Fund and Invesco Hang Seng Index Fund-Class A both posted gains of 12.87%.
Notably, the year-to-date returns for the East Asia China Tracker Index Fund and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Fund remain negative at -2.08% and -2.05%, respectively. The year-to-date returns for the other top-performing funds range from -0.06% to +2.21%, suggesting that July's gains were largely driven by a rebound and recovery following earlier adjustments.
Asian funds suffered due to a sharp downturn in Korean technology stocks but remain year-to-date winners. The loser list was dominated by Korean, Asian, and regional equity funds. The Haitong Korea Fund-T Class fell 34.26%, the Haitong Asia Pacific Fund-T Class dropped 27.41%, and several East Asia Asian Equity Funds recorded losses between 22.03% and 22.55%. The Haitong Global Diversified Fund-T Class also declined by 19.55%.
It is noteworthy that the Haitong Korea Fund-T Class still boasts a year-to-date return of +38.98% as of July 29, while the Haitong Asia Pacific Fund-T Class has a year-to-date return of +34.60%. Three East Asia Asian Equity Funds maintain year-to-date gains between +17.92% and +19.07%. The funds with the steepest monthly losses are also among the strongest year-to-date gainers, illustrating that short-term rankings can present a completely different picture from longer-term performance.
The Korean market was a key factor behind the July decline in Asian funds. Driven by demand for artificial intelligence and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the Korean stock market saw semiconductor-related stocks accumulate significant gains in the first half of the year, keeping year-to-date returns robust for several Korean and Asian equity funds. In July, however, those sectors experienced concentrated profit-taking, as the market reassessed valuations, the sustainability of AI capital expenditure, memory demand, and industry competition. Given the high allocation of Korean and many Asian funds to large technology and semiconductor stocks, a pullback in these shares amplified the monthly losses for these funds. The Haitong Korea Fund fell 34.26% in July but still has a year-to-date return of +38.98%, perfectly illustrating that short-term sharp corrections can coexist with significant accumulated annual gains.
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