Small Cap Valued In May

June 5, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Small-cap value funds topped mutual fund category returns in May, according to fund-tracker Lipper Inc.

Small-cap value funds posted a cumulative gain of 4.57% for the month, compared with just 0.27% for stock funds overall. US diversified stock funds gained an average of 1% for the month, compared with April’s 8.82%.

Science and technology funds fared among the worst, dropping 4.27%. That result was a far cry from the 19.6% gain reported for those categories in April.

Small-cap core funds, which hold both growth and value stocks, came in second, with a 3.48% increase, according to the report.

Bottom Rungs

Worst performing honors belonged to telecommunications funds, with a 6.49% slide in May.

Among sector funds, financial services funds rose 4.08% in May, while health/biotechnology funds posted a 4.06% gain and gold-oriented funds rose 4.37%.

US stock funds are still down an average 4.59% since the beginning of the year, according to Lipper, though that’s much better than the 13.1% deficit recorded in the first quarter.

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