Five for five: every MAPS portfolio is beating its benchmark this year

• Our MAPS Growth portfolios have returned between 2.0% and 17.7% year-to-date, and between 4.4% and 26.6% over the past 12 months, outperforming benchmarks across all five risk profiles.

• Asia ex-Japan and Japan have been the standout regional contributors, with the MSCI Asia ex Japan Index up 24.8% and the Nikkei 225 up 28.6% year-to-date in SGD terms.

• Within the digital economy sleeve, the Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF has returned 47.6% since its inclusion and 82.3% year-to-date, the best performer across the entire MAPS product shelf.

• We have made no allocation changes since the April 2026 rebalancing. Our overweights in Japan, Asia ex-Japan, the digital economy and short duration bonds remain fully intact, alongside our US underweight.

• With Fed policy back in focus ahead of September, our overweight in short duration bonds is exactly the ballast this environment calls for.

Outperformance across the board, not just at the top

The headline number is the Aggressive Growth portfolio, up 17.7% year-to-date and 26.6% over the past year (portfolio returns are expressed on a total return basis in SGD terms, net of management fees unless otherwise stated), comfortably ahead of its benchmark returns of 13.6% and 22.3% respectively. But the story holds all the way down the risk spectrum. Balanced Growth has returned 9.8% YTD against a 7.4% benchmark. Even Conservative Growth, with its far larger bond weighting, is ahead at 2.0% YTD versus 1.4% (Figure 1). Income portfolios have delivered the same pattern of outperformance across every risk profile.

This isn’t one lucky call carrying the whole portfolio. It’s the product of several overweights compounding together, which is exactly the outcome disciplined multi-asset positioning is meant to produce.

Figure 1: Your MAPS portfolios have achieved stellar returns

Asia and the digital economy did the heavy lifting

Our decision to run overweight Asia ex-Japan and Japan, and underweight the US, has been the single biggest swing factor. The MSCI Asia ex Japan Index is up 24.8% year-to-date, while the Nikkei 225 has climbed 28.6%, both comfortably ahead of the S&P 500's 11.4% gain. Within the portfolio, the Amova Japan Equity fund has returned 18.4% YTD and 26.7% over the past year, while the iShares Core MSCI Asia ex Japan ETF tracked its benchmark closely at 25.0% YTD.

This is not a short-term trade. Japan's structural transformation, driven by the ongoing corporate governance reforms, wage growth and the shift from deflation to reflation, remains in place. At the same time, strong AI-related demand continues to provide a powerful tailwind for Japanese semiconductor equipment and precision machinery companies, supporting further earnings growth and potential valuation upside. 

This same AI-led capex cycle is also flowing through Asia ex-Japan, with Taiwan and South Korea continuing to benefit as key beneficiaries of the broader regional theme. Being underweight the US while these markets ran has been uncomfortable at times, but the numbers have validated the call.

If Asian markets did the heavy lifting at the regional level, semiconductors did it within the digital economy sleeve. The Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF, added to MAPS in April, is up 47.6% since its inclusion and 82.3% year-to-date. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF, our longest-held position in this sleeve, is up 53.5% YTD and 91.6% over the past year.

We added Asia semiconductors specifically to close a gap in our coverage. The semiconductor supply chain runs through Taiwan, South Korea and Japan as much as it does through the US, and our exposure was previously concentrated on the US-listed side. The performance since April has confirmed the thesis. AI infrastructure spending continues to flow directly into fabrication, memory and equipment demand, and Asia sits at the centre of all three.

Our conviction here isn't a bet on sentiment turning, it is grounded in what the results are already showing. TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix all posted results this quarter that beat or came close to expectations, and management across the board points to a shortage that persists through 2028, not the near-term trough markets are currently pricing in. 

Critically, this isn't a hyperscaler-style wager on future returns. Asia's chipmakers are being paid today, under multi-year contracts that in some cases already carry substantial upfront customer deposits, while Samsung and SK Hynix together sit on more net cash than the entire Magnificent Seven combined. That combination of cash in hand, revenue locked in years out, and a robust balance sheet is what keeps our conviction on Asian semiconductors, even with the AI bubble debate raging on.

We are monitoring our overweight positions closely, semiconductors especially, though earnings growth there continues to justify current valuations. 

Short duration bonds are earning their keep

On the fixed income side, our overweight in short duration bonds continue to serve its purpose, helping to dampen volatility while still generating income. The Amova Shenton Short Term Bond Fund has delivered a steady 1.0% YTD, outperforming the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index, which was flat over the same period. 

This positioning is likely to become even more important in the months ahead. The Fed held rates at 3.50% – 3.75% in July, and under new Chair Kevin Warsh a September rate decision could be more consequential, with markets pricing in a meaningful possibility of a hike as elevated oil, food and even memory prices keep inflation expectations uncomfortably high. In an environment where longer-dated bonds face greater interest rate risk, our shorter duration positioning is a deliberate defensive choice rather than a default one.

Where we stand today

Table 1: Equity intra-asset allocation

Table 2: Fixed income intra-asset allocation

What should investors do?

Stay invested and keep your Regular Savings Plan running. None of the drivers behind this year’s performance are short-term catalysts, they are structural themes we expect to keep playing out. If you’re already in MAPS, there is nothing to do but stay the course. If you’ve been on the sidelines, a portfolio that is beating its benchmark across every single risk profile is a reasonable place to start.

Start now with a lump sum from as little as SGD 500, or a Regular Savings Plan from SGD 100 a month.

Declaration:

For specific disclosure, at the time of publication of this report, IFPL (via its connected and associated entities) holds a NIL position in the abovementioned securities. The analyst who produced this report holds a position in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF.

This research report was prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.  iFAST Financial Pte Ltd does not rely exclusively on AI for content generation; the content of this report – including all investment theses, ratings, price targets and conclusions – has been independently reviewed and verified by the research analyst(s) to ensure accuracy and professional integrity.