Only 54% of active NZ equities managers beat the benchmark index in 2023

S&P Dow Jones Indices annual SPIVA scorecard, which included New Zealand equity funds for the first time in its analysis of how active managers perform against the relevant indicies, found that 54% of funds outperformed the index in the latest year but only 23% managed to outperform over the last 15 years.

On average, actively managed NZ domestic equity funds achieved a 4.8% return in 2023 on a simple average basis while on a weighted-average basis, with each fund's return weighted by its total net assets, the annual return was 5.1%.

That compares with the S&P/NZX 50 Index's 3.5% return, which is gross and with imputation.

While that might seem somewhat mediocre, more than three quarters of active managers in the Australian equities category failed to keep up with the S&P/ASX 200 Index.