30 April 2026
Global markets have experienced higher volatility recently, driven by the escalation of conflict in the Middle East. Despite this, all AustralianSuper PreMixed and DIY Mix investment options have delivered positive returns for the financial year to 31 March 2026.
Importantly, returns for investment options like Balanced and High Growth have been strong over the 12 months to 31 March 2026 and over the longer term. The Balanced option has delivered 8.26% for super accounts and 9.27% for Choice Income (pension) accounts over the 12 months to 31 March 2026. And the High Growth option has delivered 9.90% for super accounts and 11.02% for Choice Income accounts during that time.
Concerns about geopolitical instability, oil prices and supply chain disruptions have shifted investor sentiment. Most asset classes have been affected, with growth assets (like stocks) and more defensive assets (like bonds) impacted to varying degrees by the resulting volatility.
The increase in market volatility has highlighted the benefits of diversification and active management – both of which are cornerstones of our long-term investment strategy.
While listed share markets, like the ASX 200, fell nearly 10% during the March sell-off, portfolio diversification helped cushion the impact. For example, our unlisted asset portfolios – which are less sensitive to short-term market sentiment and noise – acted as a ballast in March, generating positive returns for the month.
While we’ve seen more unpredictability recently, it’s important to keep perspective. The CBOE Volatility Index (or VIX), which tracks market volatility, has yet to reach the levels seen in April 2025, when volatility spiked in response to US tariffs.
Markets may remain volatile in the near term as the situation in the Middle East continues to evolve, at least until a lasting resolution is achieved. However, our investment team is monitoring ongoing developments, assessing the potential impacts on markets and positioning the portfolio to deliver long-term performance for members.
AustralianSuper remains one of the top-performing super funds over the long term, with the Balanced option ranking #2 for investment performance over the last 20 years.1
31 March 2026 investment performance update
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Show transcript
Things are moving so quickly these days, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But if you’re worried about your super, let me put your mind at ease.
Despite recent market volatility and higher costs of living, there’s some good news. All AustralianSuper investment options have delivered positive returns for the financial year to date.
And importantly, the Balanced option, where most members are invested, has delivered strong returns over the one year and long term: 8.3% for super accounts and 9.3% for Choice Income accounts over the last 12 months.
Hi, I’m Alistair Barker, Head of Asset Allocation at AustralianSuper. There have been three key factors driving recent market volatility. First, geopolitical events, driving higher oil prices and concerns about supply chains. Second, concerns about rising inflation and rising interest rates. And third, AI and the potential risks and opportunities impacting earnings and valuations.
During the month of March, a number of stock markets, including the ASX, fell by up to 10%. But we invest your savings across a diversified asset pool, including infrastructure, real estate and private equity. And those assets provided positive returns during March, and that helped insulate your savings from the fall in share markets. And it helps ensure that investment options like the Balanced option provide good long-term returns.
We understand that it’s stressful to see your super balance fall, especially if you’re in retirement when you’re looking to fund some of your cost of living from your super savings. But in these moments, we find it critical to maintain perspective. And I’ll offer three reasons why.
The first is that market ups and downs are a normal part of investing. You might be interested to know that falls in the market of 10% or more are actually quite common. They happen around once every one to two years.
Second, things might feel quite volatile at the moment, but they’re actually not as volatile as they were a year ago around the Liberation Day events. Nor are they as volatile as during the early part of the COVID pandemic.
And finally, what matters most in investing is whether economies and companies can continue to grow through these periods of volatility. That’s what we’ve seen over the last five years. And that’s why investment markets have managed to be very resilient, notwithstanding the shocks that we’ve seen.
It’s important to remember that super is a long-term investment. And it may be tempting when you see market volatility and your account balance fall to switch from the option you’re in to cash. But that creates three potential risks.
The first is you may be locking in losses. The second, you may miss the rebound in markets, and through history, those rebounds can be quite sharp. But third, and perhaps most importantly, you may miss out on the long-term compounding of returns in your account balance.
In volatile markets, discipline tends to be the most important factor in long-term investing success. And keep in mind that AustralianSuper has a team of investment professionals, including myself, who are here to look after your savings, so you don’t have to worry.
Investment markets may remain volatile in the short term, at least until there’s a longer-term resolution of the situation in the Middle East. We continue to focus on positioning your portfolios to generate strong long-term investment returns, analysing scenarios, looking at potential market reactions. If you’d like to know more, please visit our website.
End transcript
Investment options
The returns for all PreMixed and DIY Mix investment options are shown below:
Super and TTR Income investment option performance as at 31 March 2026
| INVESTMENT OPTION | 3 Months | FYTD | 1 Year | 3 Years p.a. | 5 Years p.a. | 10 Years p.a. | 15 Years p.a. | 20 Years p.a. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PreMixed Options | ||||||||
| High Growth | -1.22% | 4.47% | 9.90% | 9.24% | 7.70% | 9.23% | 9.09% | 7.32% |
| Balanced | -0.92% | 3.71% | 8.26% | 7.81% | 6.59% | 8.17% | 8.23% | 6.97% |
| Socially Aware | -3.07% | 1.01% | 6.13% | 7.05% | 5.94% | 7.09% | 7.70% | 6.46% |
| Indexed Diversified | -2.18% | 2.29% | 8.11% | 9.28% | 7.28% | 7.90% | ||
| Conservative Balanced | -0.73% | 3.09% | 7.00% | 6.34% | 5.00% | 6.34% | 6.77% | |
| Stable | -0.37% | 2.43% | 5.42% | 4.82% | 3.57% | 4.72% | 5.35% | 5.25% |
| DIY Mix Options | ||||||||
| Australian Shares | 1.57% | 6.40% | 14.31% | 11.06% | 10.73% | 10.53% | 9.32% | 8.01% |
| International Shares | -5.91% | 1.97% | 8.02% | 12.95% | 8.88% | 11.71% | 11.30% | 7.49% |
| Diversified Fixed Interest | -0.53% | 0.25% | 2.07% | 2.36% | 0.53% | 2.00% | 3.60% | 4.08% |
| Cash | 0.88% | 2.67% | 3.80% | 3.94% | 2.76% | 2.13% | 2.45% | 3.10% |
AustralianSuper investment returns are based on crediting rates, which are returns less investment fees and costs, transaction costs, the percentage-based administration fee deducted from returns from 1 April 2020 to 2 September 2022 and taxes. Returns don’t include all administration, insurance and other fees and costs that are deducted from account balances. Investment returns aren’t guaranteed. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator of future returns. Returns from equivalent options of the ARF and STA super funds are used in calculating return for periods that begin before 1 July 2006.
For TTR Income accounts, the investment return is based on the crediting rate for super (accumulation) options. From 1 April 2020 to 2 September 2022 the crediting rate includes an administration fee that was deducted from investment returns for super (accumulation) accounts. TTR Income accounts will be adjusted to refund the administration fee deducted from investment returns.
Choice Income investment option performance as at 31 March 2026
| 3 Months | FYTD | 1 Year | 3 Years p.a. | 5 Years p.a. | 10 Years p.a. | 15 Years p.a. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PreMixed Options | |||||||
| High Growth | -1.22% | 5.05% | 11.02% | 10.19% | 8.50% | 10.14% | 9.99% |
| Balanced | -0.91% | 4.20% | 9.27% | 8.59% | 7.21% | 8.91% | 9.07% |
| Socially Aware | -3.28% | 1.26% | 6.91% | 7.82% | 6.49% | 7.88% | 8.51% |
| Indexed Diversified | -2.38% | 2.51% | 9.13% | 10.34% | 8.10% | 8.88% | |
| Conservative Balanced | -0.74% | 3.55% | 7.93% | 7.10% | 5.55% | 7.09% | 7.59% |
| Stable | -0.40% | 2.75% | 6.06% | 5.40% | 3.97% | 5.28% | 6.01% |
| DIY Mix Options | |||||||
| Australian Shares | 1.72% | 7.11% | 15.82% | 12.27% | 11.99% | 11.76% | 10.50% |
| International Shares | -6.50% | 2.01% | 8.42% | 14.01% | 9.54% | 12.66% | 12.35% |
| Diversified Fixed Interest | -0.68% | 0.24% | 2.38% | 2.75% | 0.56% | 2.32% | 4.15% |
| Cash | 1.03% | 3.13% | 4.38% | 4.58% | 3.20% | 2.49% | 2.86% |
Choice Income investment returns are based on crediting rates, which are returns less investment fees and costs, transaction costs and taxes. Doesn’t include all administration and other fees and costs that are deducted from account balances. Investment returns aren’t guaranteed. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator of future returns.
Asset classes
Recent investment performance shifted away from the dominance of a small number of global mega-cap tech stocks. Instead, the energy, materials and utilities sectors outperformed during the March quarter, broadly benefiting from rising commodity prices, inflation uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
The Australian shares portfolio outperformed its benchmark for the quarter, delivering positive returns despite the overall Australian share market falling. Performance was largely supported by active positions in the energy and materials sectors. Our long-term active security selection approach had the portfolio well positioned to outperform, with key positions in the mining, financials and communications sectors benefiting from the increased uncertainty caused by geopolitical events.
International shares experienced more of an impact from the Middle East conflict during the quarter. Some sectors, like energy, materials and utilities, responded positively to the geopolitical situation, while others like consumer discretionary, IT and communication services were heavily impacted.
Tech stocks had one of their weakest relative return starts to a calendar year in decades. The group of companies known as the Magnificent 7 – which includes Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla – collectively lagged the rest of the S&P 500 by about 10% during the quarter.
Unlisted asset returns have been led by private equity and private credit, which delivered strong performance for the quarter and financial year to 31 March 2026.
Infrastructure investments in seaports, airports, toll roads and energy generation continued to perform well during the quarter, especially in assets with inflation-linked revenue structures.
Many property investments in the portfolio had an uplift in performance, as market conditions rewarded investments with stable cash flows and attractive income yields.
Markets have been pricing in the potential implications of higher interest rates on global growth. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate in February and March and the Federal Reserve in the US appears to have paused its easing cycle for now.
As a result, fixed income yields have risen recently. This put pressure on the fixed income asset class, which delivered slightly lower returns over the quarter.
Investment outlook
While there is still a lot of uncertainty, we continue to anticipate that the broad economic impacts of the Middle East conflict will be temporary. While global supply chains have been affected, we don’t expect these impacts to be as lasting as other recent shocks, like during COVID-19 or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, we recognise the possibility of a deteriorating outcome, which could bring a greater risk of economic shock. Accordingly, our investment team has been carefully monitoring a range of outcomes.
As an active investor, we continue to adapt to changing conditions, managing risk and investing in attractive opportunities to grow members’ super. Market volatility can lead to the mispricing of assets and market drawdowns can create buying opportunities for long-term investors like us.
While current geopolitical and economic headwinds are front of mind, our investment team continues to consider the outlook for growth, inflation, monetary policy and fiscal policy over the next three to five years.
Our medium to longer-term view is for ongoing moderate economic growth, supported by technological productivity gains and continued investment from the private and public sectors.
We continue to view a modest overweight to listed equities, diversified across regions and sectors, as appropriate for the near and medium-term. Asset class valuations remain slightly elevated relative to historical and fair value. That increases the importance of identifying investments with above average medium to long-term earnings growth to drive relative performance.
The risks of switching
It’s important to remember that super is a long-term investment, even for many people in retirement. While changes in your balance can be worrying, market fluctuations are a normal part of investing.
Making decisions based on short-term considerations could leave you worse off in the long run. This includes activities like switching investment options, which can have a significant impact on how much super you’ll have in the future.
It’s often said, what matters is ‘time in the markets, not timing the markets.’ History has shown that staying invested over the long term is often the best way to compound wealth, because trying to identify turning points in the market can be notoriously difficult.
Importantly, members who make the decision to switch investment options, when markets are falling, later have to make a second decision, as to when to switch back.
Read more about the risks of switchingReferences
- AustralianSuper Balanced investment option compared to the SuperRatings Fund Crediting Rate Survey – SR Balanced (60-76) Index to 31 March 2026. Returns from equivalent investment options of the ARF and STA super funds are used for periods before 1 July 2006.
Investment returns aren’t guaranteed. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator of future returns This may include general financial advice which doesn’t take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision consider if the information is right for you and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement, available at australiansuper.com/PDS or by calling 1300 300 273. A Target Market Determination (TMD) is a document that outlines the target market a product has been designed for. Find the TMDs at australiansuper.com/TMD.
AustralianSuper Pty Ltd ABN 94 006 457 987, AFSL 233788, Trustee of AustralianSuper ABN 65 714 394 898.
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