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quity mutual funds recorded the highest average gain compared to fixed income and balanced funds during the first 10 months of this year, but remained below the growth of the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) during the period.

According to data provided by research company PT Infovesta Utama, equity funds recorded an average yield of 8.75 percent in year-to-date returns as of Monday. Meanwhile, fixed income funds and balanced funds saw 6.24 and 6.49 percent in year-to-date yields, respectively.

Despite higher returns, equity funds’ average yields were still below the JCI’s year-to-date growth of 12.88 percent, as of Tuesday.

The five best equity funds, according to figures from Infovesta, are Sam Indonesian Equity Fund with a yield of 32.2 percent yield, followed by MNC Dana Ekuitas (28.52 percent), Syailendra Equity Opportunity Fund (24.49 percent), OSK Nusadana Alpha Sector Rotation (21.05 percent) and TRAM Consumption Plus (19.66 percent).

Suwito Haryatno, director at PT MNC Asset Management, which manages the MNC Dana Ekuitas fund, said that his company increased portfolio holdings of promising stocks, such as those in sectors related to consumer goods, infrastructure and banking.

“We see that the stocks in these sectors perform well and can generate returns. This year, we also avoided holding stocks of mining companies,” Suwito said on Tuesday.

Commodities-based companies, such as coal, nickel and tin miners, mostly suffered a decline in their average selling prices as consequence of the ongoing European debt crisis, the slow recovery of the US economy and a slowdown in China’s economy.

“We still hold a number of mining stocks, however, the portion is no longer significant. When there are new clients who subscribe to our mutual fund products, we use the money to shop for non-mining stocks,” Suwito said.

He added that MNC Dana Ekuitas expected to book returns of around 30 percent to 35 percent by the year-end.

“It depends on the index [JCI]. If the index can reach the 4,400 level — which is about a 2 to 3 percent increase from its current level, and assuming that there will no more shocks, we can see 30 to 35 percent yields for our funds,” Suwito said.

The JCI closed at 4,314.27 on Tuesday, a 0.26 percent increase compared to a day earlier.

Balanced funds, which are mostly invested in stocks and debt instruments, trailed the performance of equity funds. The five best year-to-date performers are Nikko BUMN Plus with a yield of 24.99 percent, followed by TRIM Kombinasi 2 (24.7 percent), MNC Dana Kombinasi (23.77 percent), Sam Syariah Berimbang (23.11 percent) and
Simas Satu (20.62 percent).

Meanwhile, the top-five performing fixed income funds, which are invested particularly in debt instruments and bank deposits, are Panin Dana Utama Plus 2 with a 11.4 percent yield, followed by Kresna Olympus (11.09 percent), Sam Sukuk Syariah Sejahtera (10.62 percent), Schroder IDR Bond Fund II (10.17 percent) and Danareksa Melati Pendapatan Tetap II (9.83 percent). Ridwan Soetedja of PT Panin Asset Management, which manages Panin Dana Utama Plus 2, said that the fund had a big allocation of government bonds.

“We look at the macro-economic conditions. When it is bullish, we hold long-term government bonds, and when it is unfavorable, we switch to medium–and short–term debt instruments. We are pretty active in doing the switching,”
Ridwan said, adding that Panin Dana Utama Plus 2’s portfolio now consist mostly of medium-term government bonds.