Exclusive analysis from Citywire Global reveals that the majority of active fund managers failed to outperform their benchmarks in 2010. We looked at the one year performance of 3,861 fund managers from ten key sectors: global equities, US equities, European equities, UK equities, global emerging market equities, eurozone equities, global bonds, Japanese equities, Asia ex Japan equities and emerging market debt (including global and European).

 1,378 (36%) of the 4712 managers outperformed their benchmarks over 2010, our analysis found. The figure is less than in our analysis of 2009, when 40% of 2320 managers outperformed.

The table below shows that the sector in which fund managers really excelled in 2010 was UK equities. More than 70% of UK equity managers outperformed their indices over the year, far more than in any other sector. In 2009's analysis just 37% of them beat their respective benchmarks. The strong figures may be connected to the widespread consensus among UK managers on miners, healthcare and retail stocks, all sectors which performed strongly in 2010.

Outside the UK, emerging market debt and European equities were the sectors in which managers fared best, while US equities was the sector in which managers struggled most to outperform. Almost half (46%) of European equity managers outperformed in 2010, compared to 27% in 2009 and 53% in 2008. It was the first time we have included emerging market debt in the annual analysis, but 48% of managers beat their benchmark over the year.

In 2009, 59% of US equity managers beat the index, but in 2010 just 26% achieved that feat. The results from the largest sector, global equities, were similarly poor with just 28% of managers beating their indices compared to 40% in 2009.

The full list of figures is below in descending order, along with the figures for 2009 and 2008 where applicable.

Sector  Total No. of Managers in Sector No. of Managers who beat benchmark in 2010      % Of Managers who beat benchmark in 2010       % Of Managers who beat benchmark in 2009        % Of Managers who beat benchmark in 2008      

UK Equities     237     151     63.7    37      44    

Emerging Market Bonds   113     54      47.8                  

European Equities       816     373     45.7                  

Japan Equities  200     77      38.5    68      20    

Global EM equities      213     67      31.4    23      30    

Asia Ex Jap Equities    191     65      34.0                  

Global Bonds    406     119     29.3                  

Eurozone Equities       324     94      29.0                  

Global Equities 979     278     28.4    40      28    

US Equities     382     100     26.2    59      22    

Total   3861    1378    35.7    40