Despite the prevailing gloom this year, many developed asset classes have powered ahead.

Leading the pack is US equities with a 14.78% rise this year (-7.79% fall in 2022); Global Equities - up 11.31% (fall of -7.62% in 2022) and European Equities (ex UK) up 10.87% (fall of -6.86% in 2022).

At the bottom end of the asset class performance table were Commodities (down 10.08% in 2023), Government Bonds (down 5.76% in 2023) and Commercial Property (down 3.94% in 2023).

UK equities rose by 3.25% in 2023 after a 0.34% rise in 2022.

During the year Fidelity says that retail investors favoured money market funds and global equity index trackers. Equity income investment trusts and financials dominated its sales charts for 2023, Fidleity said.

Figures were compiled for the period 1 January to 14 December 2023. Returns are in Sterling terms.

Fidelity said that at the headline level 2023 heralded a “significant recovery” from falls in the preceding year. Nine of the 15 asset classes tracked achieved a positive return compared to just three in 2022.

Asset Class Performance 2023

Source: Fidelity International, December 2023. Datastream: Annualised total returns in GBP. 2023 from 1.01.23 to 14.12.23.

Major developed stock markets in the US, Europe and Japan performed strongly, helping to recover ground lost last year and driving the year-to-date return for global equities overall to 11.31%.

The UK has underwhelmed, Fidelity said, and it lagged other major markets.

A more significant disappointment to investors was the falls for bonds, Fidelity said. After an interest rate tightening cycle through 2022 and the first half of 2023, cash delivered returns not seen since 2008.

Ed Monk, associate director for personal investing at Fidelity, said: “Overall, investors will be pleased to have posted a positive year after the pain of 2022 - even if many portfolios may not have recovered all the ground lost last year.

“Cash has been a big story for investors this year, with returns much higher than savers have become used to. Importantly, however, cash has not been able to match the stock market, posting 4.1% gains versus 11.3% for global equities in the year so far.

“US stock market dominance also continued in 2023. But the picture is much more nuanced when you dig below the headline numbers. Big tech, or the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla) have done all the heavy lifting while everything else has bumbled along. In fact, the equal weight S&P 500 index is only roughly flat for the year in comparison.”

• The top net selling funds on Fidelity’s personal investing platform included the Fidelity Index World Fund, Royal London Short Term Money Market Fund and the Legal & General Cash Fund.