Private clients should expect a marginally positive return for February, according to Asset Risk Consultant’s estimates for the ARC Sterling Private Client indices.

The indices reflect actual returns being generated by investment managers for their UK discretionary private client portfolios, with the four indices – Cautious, Balanced Asset, Steady Growth and Equity Risk – based on real performance data provided by participating investment managers. As such, the indices, which are available for euro-, sterling- and dollar-based portfolios, indicate the returns clients can expect from a portfolio aligned with a specific level of risk-appetite.

For the sterling range, in February the Cautious PCI is estimated to have returned 0.9 per cent, the Balanced Asset PCI 1.6 per cent, the Steady Growth PCI 2.4 per cent, and the Equity Risk PCI 3.0 per cent.

Estimated year-to-date returns, meanwhile, are 0.7 per cent, 0.9 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent for the Cautious, Balanced, Steady Growth and Equity Risk portfolios respectively – meaning investors haven’t been rewarded so far this year for extra risk.

However, for last year as a whole, investors were rewarded for risk, as the least risky portfolio returned 7.6 per cent compared to a return of 21.3 per cent for the most risky.