Falling dollar drives returns

It has released its latest KiwiSaver survey, to June 30. Over that period, the New Zealand dollar fell in value by just over 8% against the US, 12% against the Euro, 9% against the Australian, and 13% against the British pound.

KiwiSaver funds with more exposure to growth assets performed more strongly than conservative funds again in the quarter.

Morningstar said that did not necessarily mean the growth assets themselves performed better but that currency exposures within conservative funds are usually fully hedged so were not affected by the falling New Zealand dollar. The median aggressive fund returned 2.85% for the quarter, while the median conservative fund returned 0.38%.

Forsyth Barr and Generate were the top performing aggressive and growth funds. Generate was also top of the moderate category and Kiwi Wealth topped the conservative category.