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Your support makes all the difference.TECHNOLOGY stocks helped drive Wall Street to another record level last week. Technology has also been the top-performing sector, and Prolific Technology the top unit trust over the past month and indeed the past year, according to the latest figures from Micropal. The worst-performing sector, both in the past month and the past year, has been the Japanese stock market, where a steep rise in the value of the yen against sterling has failed to compensate for heavy falls in Japanese share prices. But bear funds, which profit by selling shares in a falling market, have done remarkably well.
Prolific Technology has been showing a gain of 15 per cent in the past month and 58 per cent over the past year.
Second-best performer has been Mercury General with a rise in the past month of just under 15 per cent, followed by three trusts investing in the US - Jupiter American Capital, Lincoln North American and Abbey US Emerging Companies.
Over the past year Mercury WT Japanese Equity Bear has taken second place with a 48 per cent improvement, just ahead of Govett Japan Bear, which rose 47 per cent.
At the bottom of the pile, unit trusts investing conventionally in Japanese stocks fill the last five places over the past month, with falls of 6 to 7 per cent.
Over the past year, the bottom four funds all invested in Japan, with Friends Provident Japanese Smaller Companies down 41 per cent and Invesco Japanese Smaller Companies down 40 per cent.
Over the past five years Mercury Gold & General has generated 227 per cent growth, closely followed by Gartmore Hong Kong with 226 per cent, and Schroder US Smaller Companies in third place with 210 per cent.
Prolific Technology comes through into fourth place with 206 per cent, and Old Mutual Hong Kong follows it with 192 per cent.
At the bottom of the league, the long fall from grace in the Japanese stock market shows through over five years, with Friends Provident Japanese Smaller Companies the worst performer of 1,017 trusts monitored, showing a fall of 38 per cent.
The comparisons are all based on comparing offer prices and assuming all net dividends have been reinvested on the date the trusts are declared ex-dividend.
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