The wide range of assets within balanced superannuation funds helped "quarantine" super funds from large losses throughout April, says a report released by research house SuperRatings.
"Australian shares were down for the second consecutive month, with the ASX200 Accumulation Index recording a 1.7 per cent fall in April, while the Australian Listed Property Index also fell 1.0 per cent," said the researcher.
"International shares, however, increased 2.4 per cent (the MSCI World Ex-Australia Net TR Index) but a 4.5 per cent rise in the Australian dollar against the US dollar wiped out the increase and pushed the result into the red."
SuperRatings founder Jeff Bresnahan said that despite the loss, a 0.4 per cent fall in April was a "good result" compared with the major falls across all asset classes during the month.
"The wide range of assets in a balanced portfolio are doing exactly the job they are designed to do, spreading the risk and protecting members' savings during challenging investment conditions," Mr Bresnahan said.
"Losses across higher-risk options ranged up to 1.6 per cent during the month. Even the traditionally low risk fixed-interest markets fell during April because of a major sell off in international bond markets."
