Top performing funds show China, Latam gains

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mutual funds that invested in China and Latin America stock markets dominated the list of the top 10 performers in the year to date through June 26, fund data firm Thomson Reuters Lipper said on Tuesday.

The star was a small fund, the Oceanstone Fund, whose Multi-Cap Core Fund had a total return of more than 120 percent, followed by the Dreyfus Emerging Asia A fund DEAAX.O, a Pacific Ex-Japan fund with a nearly 88 percent return and the ProFunds Mobile Telecom UltraSector ProFund WCPIX.O, which gained more than 76 percent.

Nine of the 10 worst performers were all dedicated short bias funds, whose bearish stock bets boomeranged. Jeff Tjornehoj, Lipper Research Manager, United States and Canada, noted some of these funds' reliance on leverage cost them dearly.

The bottom three of these funds were the Rydex Inv 2XS&P SS Finl fund, which lost nearly 70 percent, the Direxion: EmgMk Bear 3X fund, which gave up more than 79 percent and the Direxion: Finl Bear 3X, which shed almost 87 percent. The fourth-worst performer, which lost nearly 64 percent, invested in financial services: the Direxion: Finl Bull 3X.

For many funds, the latest data were a reversal of fortune from the first quarter, when in an unusual twist, U.S. municipal funds were among the brightest stars in the bond category.

The latest preliminary fund rankings were unlikely to change markedly because the end of the second quarter is June 30.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla and Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)