The Morningstar Australian Superannuation Survey indicated a 1.9 per cent return for the median growth superannuation fund for October, bringing the year-to-date return to 7.3 per cent.
The results ranged from 3.4 to 1.4 per cent.
Annualised returns for median growth superannuation funds were recorded at 18.3 per cent for the past year, 8.9 per cent for three years, 8.1 per cent for five years and 6.9 per cent for 10 years.
The strongest performing growth superfund was Legg Mason Growth at 29.8 per cent, followed by Legg Mason Balanced at 26.4 per cent and Maple-Brown Abbott at 22.3 per cent.
In terms of five-year results, Legg Mason Balanced was the strongest performer, at 10.6 per cent, followed by Legg Mason Balanced at 10.4 per cent.
BT Balanced generated the strongest results in the past year among the balanced options, at 15.8 per cent, followed by STC Balanced at 14.8 per cent.
Growth assets produced positive returns in October with Australian shares at 3.9 per cent, global listed property at 3.6 per cent, Australian listed property at 2.7 per cent, and international shares at 2.6 per cent.
The average allocation to equities at 30 September was 58.2 per cent, with 31.4 per cent in Australian equities and 26.8 per cent global, while the average property exposure was 7.7 per cent.
Defensive assets accounted for 24.5 per cent on average with 9.7 per cent in domestic fixed interest, 6 per cent in international fixed interest and 8.8 per cent in cash.
The Morningstar Institutional Sector Survey showed that Australian shares also performed well in October with the ASX300 index rising 3.9 per cent, increasing the year-to-date result to 14.6 per cent.
The best performing sectors were financials at 5.5 per cent, healthcare at 4.5 per cent and industrials at 4.3 per cent.
Energy and utilities sectors performed poorly at 0.2 percent and 1.1 per cent respectively.
Other growth assets producing strong results included global listed property at 3.6 per cent, Australian listed property at 2.7 per cent and international shares at 2.6 per cent.
The median Australian share fund generated a 4 per cent return for October, 0.1 per cent above the index.
Returns for the past year were 28.3 per cent, 10.8 per cent for 3 years and 11.9 per cent for 5 years.
The best performing Australian share strategies were Millienium (45 per cent) and Bennelong Concentrated (41.8 per cent).
The median international share strategy recorded a return of 39.2 per cent over the past year and a return of 13.2 per cent in the past 3 years.
Orbis (59.4 per cent), Bernstein Global Strategic (51.2 per cent) and Wellington Global Growth (48.8 per cent) were the top three performers.
The MSCI World ex-Australia NR AUD index posted a 38.2 per cent return and the Australian property securities index gained 13.3 per cent over the past year.
The best performing property securities were Zurich (17.9 per cent), Legg Mason (17 per cent) and BlackRock (16.2 per cent).
