Best Performing Currency Mutual Funds April 2013

The best performing currency mutual funds April 2013 are Eaton Vance Diversified Currency Income fund, Lord Abbett Emerging Markets Currency, more. It provides alternative opportunity for hedging.

Top Currency Funds

Currency Funds

Currency mutual funds invest in U.S. and non-U.S. currencies around the world. The portfolios use short term money market, derivative, forward currency contracts, index swaps / options, and cash deposits. The mutual fund invest mostly in major currency such as US dollar (USD), European Euro (EUR), Japanese Yen (JPY), British Pound (GBP), Australian Dollar (AUD), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Swiss Franc (CHF), and more. They may invest in other currencies such as Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), Swedish Koran (SEK), South Korean Won (KRW), and Singapore Dollar (SGD).

From this best performing funds list, you may find each individual fund review. You can find the fund performance, expense ratio, and dividend yield from the table below. The list is sorted based on its 1 year return up to April 21, 2013.

Top Mutual Funds

The best performing currency mutual funds April 2013 are:

1. Eaton Vance Diversified Currency Income fund (EAIIX)
2. Rydex Strengthening Dollar 2x Strategy fund (RYSDX)
3. Lord Abbett Emerging Markets Currency fund (LDMAX)
4. ProFunds Rising US Dollar fund (RDPIX)
5. PIMCO Emerging Markets Currency fund (PLMAX)
6. Columbia Absolute Return Currency & Income fund (RARAX)
7. Ashmore Emerging Markets Currency fund (ECYAX)
8. JPMorgan Ex-G4 Currency Strategies fund (EXGAX)
9. JHancock2 Currency Strategies fund (JCUAX)
10. JPMorgan International Currency Income fund (JCIAX)
11. Franklin Templeton Hard Currency fund (ICPHX)
12. Merk Asian Currency fund (MEAFX)
13. Merk Hard Currency fund (MERKX)
14. Parametric Currency fund (EAPSX)
15. Merk Absolute Return Currency Investor (MABFX)

Updated on 4/28/2013

Eaton Vance Diversified Currency Income fund (EAIIX)

Eaton Vance fund

Eaton Vance Diversified Currency Income fund invests in securities, derivatives, and other insturments to get exposures in developed and emerging markets. John R. Baur and Michael A. Cirami are the fund managers since 2008. The fund’s CUSIP is 277923710. It has total net assets of $607.3 million. The annual expense ratio is 1.10%. The management fee is 0.30% and the front end sales load fee is 4.75%. It has a high 12-month dividend yield of 4.60%.

More: Top 5 Currency Mutual Funds 2012

The YTD return of this EAIIX fund is 0.78%. Since its inception in 2007, this top performing currency mutual fund has recorded 4 years of positive return and only 1 year of negative return. The yearly performance since inception is listed as below:

• Year 2012: 7.62%
• Year 2011: -0.11% (lowest)
• Year 2010: 4.76%
• Year 2009: 6.50%
• Year 2008: 9.10% (highest)

The top 7 foreign currency allocations as of December 2012 are Asia (33.17%), Europe (29.14%), Latin America (18.60%), Africa (5.95%), Precious Metals (4.74%), Dollar Bloc (3.06%) and Middle East (1.20%). It also has average duration of 0.69 years.

Rydex Strengthening Dollar 2x Strategy fund (RYSDX)

Rydex Strengthening Dollar 2x Strategy fund objective is to provide investment results that match 200% of the performance of the U.S. Dollar Index. This Rydex fund has small total net assets of $25.3 million. The annual expense ratio is 1.68%.

This currency mutual fund is currently managed by Michael P. Byrum and other managers. RYSJX (Class C) and RYSBX (Class H) are the other classes of this fund. The fund has year-to-date return of 5.24%. US Dollar Index is the benchmark.

Lord Abbett Emerging Markets Currency fund (LDMAX)

LDMAX fund

Lord Abbett Emerging Markets Currency fund uses its assets to buy portfolio of currencies, and in fixed income instruments denominated in the emerging markets currencies. It may invest in high yield bonds. Its total net assets are $464.1 million. The current fund managers are Leah G. Traub and David B. Ritt. The annual expense ratio is 1.01%. This fee is lower than the category’s average, 1.24%. It has a decent dividend yield of 2.60%. The latest distribution was given in February 2013 in the amount of $0.01. The current share price is $6.65.

More: Top Performing Emerging Markets Bond Mutual Funds 2013

Ranked with Neutral ranking by Morningstar, this LDMAX fund has a record of 18 years of positive return and 6 years of negative return. As one of the best performing currency mutual funds, it has the best achievement in 2009 with 20.59%. The worst 1 year total return was occurred in 2008 with -11.91%. Based on the load adjusted returns, the fund has returned 0.99% over the past 1-year and 2.49% over the past 5-year.

As of February 2013, the top 5 currency exposures are Russia (9.9%), India (8.5%), Chile (7.9%), Thailand (7.8%) and Mexico (7.6%). The top fixed income issuers are Turkey Government Bond (3.3%) and Hungary Treasury Bills (2.9%).

ProFunds Rising US Dollar fund (RDPIX)

ProFunds Rising US Dollar fund has small total net assets of $95.3 million. Jeffrey Ploshnick is the fund manager. It was incepted in 2005. The fund’s expense ratio is 1.73%. There is no dividend yield. This no-load fund has 1 year of positive return and 6 years of negative return. In 2013, it also has 3.43% year-to-date return.

PIMCO Emerging Markets Currency fund (PLMAX)

PIMCO fund

As part of PIMCO fund family, the PIMCO Emerging Markets Currency fund has total net assets of $6.8 billion. This popular currency mutual fund has a SEC Yield of 0.97%. It also has an expense ratio of 1.25% per year. The fund distributes 1.73% dividend to its investor. The annual holdings turnover as of March 2013 is 49%. It is currently managed by Michael A. Gomez.

Morningstar analysts rank this top performing currency mutual fund with silver rating. Based on the load adjusted returns, it has returned 1.95% over the past 3-year and 1.21% over the past 5-year. The fund’s best performance so far was in 2009 with 21.13%. The fund’s benchmarks are JP Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index Plus (Unhedged) and Lipper Currency Funds Average. It has an effective duration of 1.08 years and an effective maturity of 1.42 years.

The top currency exposures as of March 2013 are China (11.08%), Hong Kong (9.94%), Mexico (9.90%), Russia (9.44%) and India (8.62%). The fund objective is to provide maximum total return by capital preservation and prudent management.

Columbia Absolute Return Currency & Income fund (RARAX)

Since its inception, the Columbia Absolute Return Currency & Income fund has been managed by Nicholas Pifer. It utilizes its assets to purchase short-duration debt obligations and forward foreign currency contracts. The annual expense ratio is 1.42%. There is 0.25% management fee and 3.00% front-end sales load fee. It has $95.3 million of total net assets. The minimum initial investment for brokerage account is $10,000. The other classes of this fund are Class C (RARCX) and Class Z (CACZX).

This top performing currency mutual fund has average effective duration of 0.11 years. Its weighted average life is 0.22 years. It has Neutral rank from Morningstar. This mutual fund has always provided positive returns since 2006. The yearly performance is as follow: 1.82% in 2012, 0.50% in 2011, 0.50% in 2010, 0.91% in 2009, 1.07% in 2008 and 6.02% in 2007.

As of December 2012, it has 7 total holdings. The top sectors are Cash and Cash Equivalents (95.4%), CMBS (2.9%) and ABS (1.6%). The currencies long are Australian Dollar, Japanese Yen and New Zealand Dollar. While the currencies short are Euro, British Pound and Swiss Franc.

Currencies Fund Information

No	Fund Description	Ticker	Rating	Expense Ratio	Yield (%)	Net Assets (mil)	Min Invest
1	Eaton Vance Diversified Currency Inc A	EAIIX	N/A	1.1	4.6	$607.5	$1,000
2	Rydex Strengthening Dollar 2x Strategy A	RYSDX	N/A	1.68	0	$25.3	$2,500
3	Lord Abbett Emerging Markets Currency A	LDMAX	Neutral	1.01	2.6	$464.1	$1,000
4	ProFunds Rising US Dollar Investor	RDPIX	N/A	1.73	0	$95.3	$15,000
5	PIMCO Emerging Markets Currency A	PLMAX	Silver	1.25	1.73	$6,800.0	$1,000
6	Columbia Absolute Ret Ccy & Inc A	RARAX	Neutral	1.42	0	$89.5	$10,000
7	Ashmore Emerging Markets Ccy A	ECYAX	Bronze	1.15	0	$50.7	$1,000
8	JPMorgan Ex-G4 Currency Strategies A	EXGAX	N/A	0.71	1.02	$187.0	$1,000
9	JHancock2 Currency Strategies A	JCUAX	Neutral	1.6	0	$1,100.0	$2,500
10	JPMorgan International Currency Inc A	JCIAX	Bronze	0.76	0.79	$1,200.0	$1,000
11	Franklin Templeton Hard Currency A	ICPHX	Silver	1.06	0	$484.4	$1,000
12	Merk Asian Currency Inv	MEAFX	Neutral	1.3	0.01	$58.4	$2,500
13	Merk Hard Currency Inv	MERKX	Silver	1.3	0	$540.2	$2,500
14	Parametric Currency Investor	EAPSX	N/A	0.9	2.66	$3.2	$1,000
15	Merk Absolute Return Currency Inv	MABFX	N/A	1.3	0	$16.9	$2,500

Fund Performance

No	Fund Description	Ticker	YTD Return (%)	1-Year Return %	3-Year Return %	5-Year Return %	10-Year Return %
1	Eaton Vance Diversified Currency Inc A	EAIIX	0.78	5.42	4.81	3.66	-
2	Rydex Strengthening Dollar 2x Strategy A	RYSDX	5.42	2.11	-4.84	-1.4	-
3	Lord Abbett Emerging Markets Currency A	LDMAX	-0.12	3.34	2.84	2.61	4.2
4	ProFunds Rising US Dollar Investor	RDPIX	3.43	2.46	-2.34	-0.09	-
5	PIMCO Emerging Markets Currency A	PLMAX	0.41	2.11	2.86	2	-
6	Columbia Absolute Ret Ccy & Inc A	RARAX	0.8	2.03	1.41	1.48	-
7	Ashmore Emerging Markets Ccy A	ECYAX	0.11	1.71	-	-	-
8	JPMorgan Ex-G4 Currency Strategies A	EXGAX	0.1	1.64	-	-	-
9	JHancock2 Currency Strategies A	JCUAX	-1.37	0.64	-	-	-
10	JPMorgan International Currency Inc A	JCIAX	-0.71	0.63	2.57	1.58	-
11	Franklin Templeton Hard Currency A	ICPHX	-1.56	0.43	3.28	1.46	5.18
12	Merk Asian Currency Inv	MEAFX	-1.45	0.11	0.61	-	-
13	Merk Hard Currency Inv	MERKX	-1.98	0.01	2.76	1.32	-
14	Parametric Currency Investor	EAPSX	-1.56	-0.61	-	-	-
15	Merk Absolute Return Currency Inv	MABFX	1.55	-1.71	-1.33	-	-