Hargreaves Lansdown has revealed its top performing funds and sectors in October 2013 and says that after many years in the doldrums Europe is making good gains and India is showing signs of recover after three poor years.
HL says that Japan and smaller companies continue to dominate best performing year to date  funds and sectors and IMA Money Market and IMA UK are worst performing sectors year to date.
Richard Troue, head of VCT research, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “European funds made good gains during October. Europe seems to remain a perpetually unloved region with retail investors. In recent years Europe’s political and economic travails have discouraged investors. Yet many companies have prospered regardless and European stock markets have, on the whole, performed well. This shows the importance of divorcing economic prospects from those of companies and the stock markets. 
"Europe is home to many dynamic, successful businesses, both large and small, that are not just reliant on domestic European economies. The European region  has more than its fair share of economic and political problems, but this is not a good enough reason to ignore the market. Elsewhere global emerging markets continued to stage a mini rebound, led by further stimulus from China, continued improvement in global growth and the decision by the US Federal Reserve to delay the tapering, or slowing, of quantitative easing.
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“Despite pausing for breath during October Japan funds are still faring well over the year to date, along with other developed markets including Europe, the UK and the US. Various smaller company sectors dominate the best performing sectors year to date as we start to see a global recovery coming through.”

Key tables are below and based on Lipper performance data: 

Top performing Funds October 2013

Name	IMA	%	Rank
Neptune India A Acc GBP	Specialist	12.91	1
IM Argonaut European Absolute Return GBP A Acc	Targeted Absolute Return	9.97	2
JPM Europe Smaller Companies A Acc	European Smaller Cos	9.36	3
JPM Europe Dynamic ex-UK A Acc	Europe Excluding UK	8.33	4
IM Argonaut European Alpha GBP A Acc	Europe Excluding UK	8.23	5
First State Indian Subcontinent A GBP Acc	Specialist	8.09	6
Baring German Growth Trust GBP Acc	Specialist	7.91	7
Schroder European Smaller Companies Acc	European Smaller Cos	7.64	8
JPM Europe A Acc	Europe Excluding UK	7.58	9
F&C Institutional European 4 Inc	Europe Excluding UK	7.29	10

 

Top performing sectors October 2013

Name	%	Rank
IMA European Smaller Companies	6.57	1
IMA Europe Excluding UK	6.49	2
IMA Europe Including UK	6.06	3
IMA Global Emerging Markets	5.72	4
IMA Global Equity Income	5.47	5
IMA North America	5.27	6
IMA UK All Companies	5.23	7
IMA Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	5.17	8
IMA UK Equity Income	4.88	9
IMA Global	4.60	10

Source: LIPPER 1^st October 2013 to 31^st October 2013

Top performing funds year to date 2013

Name	IMA	%	Rank
Baillie Gifford Global Discovery A Acc	Global	53.17	1
Fidelity UK Smaller Companies A Acc	UK Smaller Companies	44.56	2
Invesco Perpetual UK Aggressive Acc	UK All Companies	41.55	3
JPM Europe Smaller Companies A Acc	European Smaller Cos	40.42	4
JPM US Smaller Companies A Acc	North American Smaller Cos	39.16	5
JPM Japan A Acc	Japan	38.79	6
Neptune Japan Opportunities A Acc GBP	Japan	38.42	7
F&C Institutional UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	38.34	8
Schroder European Smaller Companies Acc	European Smaller Cos	37.96	9
Schroder UK Smaller Companies Acc	UK Smaller Companies	37.01	10

Top performing sectors year to date

Name	%	Rank
IMA Japanese Smaller Companies	39.83	1
IMA North American Sm Companies	34.77	2
IMA UK Smaller Companies	29.85	3
IMA North America	29.18	4
IMA European Smaller Companies	29.13	5
IMA Japan	27.31	6
IMA Europe Excluding UK	26.17	7
IMA Europe Including UK	25.47	8
IMA UK All Companies	23.97	9
IMA Technology & Telecoms	23.27	10

 Source: LIPPER 1^st January 2013 to 31^st October 2013