International Equities
Global shares began 2025 on a positive note in January, returning +3.6% in USD terms. While it might appear that the New Year is picking up where 2024 left off, the components of the January rally were different to what we saw last year.
The US market rose less than the global index, up +2.8%, and the much vaunted Magnificent 7 stocks lagged the broader S&P 500. The best performing US sectors were Communication Services and Health Care, while the worst performer was Technology, dragged down by a -10% selloff in last year’s market darling, Nvidia.
Even though Generate’s portfolios are overweight both the US and technology shares, we comfortably outperformed the global index thanks to a raft of positive earnings surprises from key holdings. The big winners were in a diverse range of industries from cruise ships (Royal Caribbean) to streaming services (Netflix) to health care (HCA Holdings).
On the downside, semiconductor stocks sold off sharply in January, a combination of tariff fears and uncertainty in the AI market following the release of China’s DeepSeek latest large language model. These uncertainties are likely to persist in the near term, but we don’t see any slowdown in AI investment levels on the horizon and remain comfortable holding key AI-exposed stocks.
New Zealand & Australian equities
January was a challenging start to the year for New Zealand markets, with the S&P/NZX50 declining by -0.9%. In contrast, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 rose by +4.6%.
Two key factors contributed to the decline in the NZ market: Infratil Limited (-11%) and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare (-2.1%). Infratil experienced a gradual decline throughout the month, with a sharp drop occurring at the end of January following the revelation of China-based DeepSeek. DeepSeek published a paper which, at first glance, gave investors the impression that they had developed AI tools at a significantly lower cost compared to US-based platforms. This led the market to question the future demand for all things AI, including data centres, which form a substantial part of Infratil’s portfolio via their holding of CDC in Australia. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare’s decline came without new developments.
In positive news, Oceania Healthcare increased by +12.3%, and Mercury Energy gained +7.9%. The gains for Oceania were likely influenced by investor optimism that lower interest rates may lead to a rise in residential property prices over 2025. Oceania is exposed to this thematic as their retirement living products are priced based on house prices.
Additionally, a stronger housing market enables potential village residents to sell their homes more easily ahead of moving into a village. Mercury’s gain could be attributed to recovery from index-led selling that affected the stock in December, as investors prepared for a potential exit of Mercury from the MSCI World index. If this event occurs, it could result in a significant number of passive-investors selling the stock.
Returns to the 31st of January 2025
(after fees* and before tax)
Generate KiwiSaver Funds:
1 Month
1 Year
5 Year (p.a.)
10 Year (p.a.)
Since inception**
(p.a.)
Focused
Growth Fund
2.96%
23.19%
8.75%
9.99%
10.36%
Growth
Fund
2.20%
19.21%
7.47%
9.11%
9.39%
Balanced Fund^
1.38%
14.88%
10.35%
Moderate Fund***
0.92%
11.91%
4.60%
5.82%
5.83%
Conservative Fund^
0.45%
9.19%
6.18%
Defensive Fund^
0.17%
6.91%
4.61%
Generate Managed Funds:
1 Month
1 Year
5 Year (p.a.)
10 Year (p.a.)
Since inception** (p.a)
Focused Growth Managed Fund***
2.92%
23.02%
8.79%
9.60%
Balanced Managed Fund^
1.38%
14.93%
10.47%
Conservative Managed Fund^
0.44%
9.20%
6.12%
Thematic Managed Fund^^
5.18%
32.24%
29.16%
Australasian Managed Fund^^
-0.51%
10.03%
7.75%
Except for the $3 per member per month administration expense that is charged to KiwiSaver members.
** The Generate KiwiSaver Scheme funds opened on 16 April 2013. The Generate Focused Growth Trust opened on 1 November 2019.
***Following the launch of new funds in May 2022, our original Conservative Fund was renamed as the Moderate Fund and the Focused Growth Trust has been renamed as the Focused Growth Managed Fund.
^ these funds were established on 16 May 2022
^^ these funds were established on 3 July 2023
Past performance is not necessarily an indicator of future performance.
Top Holdings as of the 31st of January 2025
International Equities
Nvidia
Amazon
Microsoft
Meta Platforms
Broadcom
External Managers
T Rowe Price Global Equity Fund
Te Ahumairangi Global Equity Fund
Worldwide Healthcare Trust
Nuveen ESG Small Cap ETF
CIM Infrastructure III Fund
Australasian Equities
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
Infratil
Contact Energy
Auckland International Airport
Spark
Fixed Income
Local Government Funding Agency Bonds
Kāinga Ora Bonds
NZ Government Bonds
ANZ AUD Bonds
Westpac AUD Bonds