Gold funds were among the best performers of August, clawing back some of the losses the sector have made since the beginning of the year.
Webb Capital Smaller Companies Gold, which invests in companies involved in the mining, exploration, development and production of gold, increased 15% in value over the course of last month, and Ruffer Baker Steel Gold was up 12% - although the fund is down 42% since the beginning of the year.
WAY Charteris Gold Portfolio and MFM Junior Gold also featured in the top five climbers.
Also among the top climbers were smaller companies funds, which have steadily climbed in value since the credit crisis.
Miton UK Smaller Companies gained 10% last month and Webb Capital Smaller Companies Growth increased 16% in value.
Rob Morgan of stock broker Charles Stanley which compiled the data said standout sector was UK Smaller Companies up over 3% with notably strong performance from Giles Hargreave's Marlborough UK Micro Cap Growth and Gervais Williams' Miton UK Smaller Companies.
“There were also some exceptionally strong performances in the specialist sector from gold and resources funds, which continued to recover well after a long period of weakness. Broader commodities funds also generally fared well,” he said.
Miton UK Smaller Companies fund manager Gervais Williams spoke to Morningstar TV recently and said that he expected small caps to continue to outperform larger companies.
He said smaller companies were able to excel at a time when the country was experiencing a challenging economic backdrop because they were less correlated with the economy.
“If you’re a small company, you’re not necessarily dependent on the economy at large,” Williams said.
“The companies which have been successful over the last couple of years have been very successful, against a universe which is fairly flat. Small-caps underperformed for the previous 25 years during the period of globalization and the rise of emerging markets but I think we’re now starting a new trend.“