China’s multi-asset funds dominate top performers as tech soars

[MELBOURNE] Chinese multi-asset funds trounced their global peers last year with a simple strategy: bet big on tech stocks.

The country dominated the rankings of the world’s most successful cross-asset mutual funds, managing more than US$500 million, taking 13 of the top 20 spots, according to Bloomberg data. Seven of the Chinese funds delivered returns of more than 100 per cent over the course of the year.

The approach of many of these firms was cross-asset in name only. They overwhelmingly put their money into China’s stock market, riding a boom in shares linked to artificial intelligence (AI).

Many even flocked to the same handful of shares: Optical communications firm Eoptolink Technology Inc., which jumped more than 400 per cent last year, was one of the top holdings of all 13 of the leading funds. Shares of rival Zhongji Innolight were owned by a dozen of them.

The performance of these funds underscores just how profitable bets on AI have been over the past 12 months, even as US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies rattled global markets. After buzz about Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek opened the year, Trump quickly became the No 1 fixation for traders. By the end of 2025, though, AI was once again the dominant theme.

That helped cement a startling turnaround in China’s stock market, which rose for two years in a row after a long slump fueled by Covid-19 and anxiety about economic growth. The MSCI China Index ended the year up 28 per cent, its best annual performance since 2017.

“Multi-asset fund performance in 2025 with exposure to China and particularly China tech has been stellar given the severe underperformance from 2021 through to late 2024,” said George Boubouras, head of research at K2 Asset Management in Melbourne.

Maxwealth Fund Management was one of the standout performers in the country. Its Science and Technology Zhixuan Mixed Launched Fund, which had assets of around 11.5 billion yuan (S$2.7 billion) at the end of the third quarter, generated total returns of 231 per cent in 2025.

A nine billion yuan vehicle managed by Tebon Fund Management soared 129 per cent, helped by a 583 per cent rise in the shares of circuit board manufacturer Victory Giant Technologies Guizhou. Maxwealth and Tebon did not respond to requests for comment.

Efforts in Beijing to drive more long-term capital into the stock market helped the rally. Mutual funds were pushed to increase their local equities holdings by at least 10 per cent annually for three years, while large state-owned insurers were told to invest 30 per cent of new policy premiums from 2025. Regulators also unveiled a two-year strategy in October to make it easier for qualified foreign institutional investors to enter the local market.

Other top-performing multi-asset funds for the year included two from Turkey that topped the list, alongside precious metals funds from Greece, France, and two from Japan that surged as gold and silver rallied to record highs. BLOOMBERG