On 9 August last year global stockmarkets crashed, the first real signal that the five-year bull market was drawing to a close and that the credit crunch had taken hold. This sudden shift in sentiment has hit fund performance, with only 33% of funds delivering a positive return from 9 August to the end of May this year, according to Lipper.

The key UK All Companies and UK Equity Income sectors have found the going especially tough. The average returns in these sectors have been -4.9% and -8.1%, respectively, over the last nine months.  Read More.