With the extreme volatility of global equity markets in April, multiple funds and ETFs available to UK and European investors have seen double digit losses over the past week, with funds associated energy, natural resources and Japan standing out as some of the biggest losers.
Of funds available to European investors, the worst 10 performers lost between 15% and 19% over a one-week period, in data to the close of April 7. The biggest loss belonged to crypto tracker CoinShares XBT Provider Ether Tracker Euro XBT Provider ETHEREUM XBTE, down 18.68% over the past week. The £207 million fund is down 60% so far this year, and has an annualized three-year loss of 25%.
The list contains three natural resource equity funds: Multipartner Konwave Transition Metals Fund, Global X Copper Miners COPG, and Bakersteel Global Funds SICAV- Electrum and, one exchange-traded commodity: WisdomTree Copper COPA. Two energy equity ETFs also feature: iShares Oil & Gas Exploration & Production SPOG and SPDR® MSCI Europe Energy ETF ENGE.
Kenneth Lamont, principal, manager research at Morningstar, says: “Copper is often referred to as a bellwether commodity, whose fortunes are tied to those of the global economy. It has tumbled as growth forecasts have been cut.”
Oil prices have plummeted on expectation of a tariff-inspired global economic slowdown or contraction, and companies that sell crude oil and natural gas are “extremely sensitive to price fluctuations”, Lamont adds. This would impact ETFs like iShares Oil & Gas Exploration & Production IOGP, which targets the upstream part of the oil and gas value chain.
Japan Funds Weaker Under Tariffs
Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark, whose largest stocks are key exporters like Toyota and Sony, has fallen more than 9.5% over the past five days and two Japan equity funds are among the bottom 10: Nikko AM Japan Value D GBP Hedge and Alma Eikoh Japan L-Cap Eq I GBP Hedged.
Notably, both vehicles are GBP hedged. The yen, which like the Swiss franc is considered a “safe-haven” currency, strengthened against both the pound and the US dollar. Investors in hedged share classes therefore missed out on some of the offset against the market losses.
The largest fund in the list, Baillie Gifford Worldwide Long Term Global Growth fell 15.42% over one week, bringing its 2025 losses to 20.41%. The fund has slowly worked to recover its 2022 losses, where the fund’s value was halved. It managed to capture the Magnificent Seven rally in 2022 and 2023, but overall, the fund has a three-year annualized loss of 3.15%.
Read more about how long-term investors can best weather the storm.
Methodology for Fund and ETF Performance
The funds selected in this article have been screened to select cheapest and retail share classes where possible, showing only GBP, USD and EUR share classes, however all returns are in GBP. The funds and ETFs must be available for sale either across European or global borders. Funds with assets below £100 million have been excluded. We have also excluded trading tools such as leveraged ETFs.
The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies.
