2025 Made Fund Investing Far More Profitable: 160+ Funds Doubled in Returns, with Some Investors Gaining 30% in Just Four Months

With 2025 drawing to a close, China’s equity market has delivered a strong year. Since the start of the year, the Shanghai Composite Index has climbed from around 3,300 to near 4,000, and it has recently posted a notable nine-session winning streak.

Against this “slow-bull” backdrop, public mutual fund performance has rebounded sharply. Wind data shows that as of December 29, more than 160 funds (counting A and C share classes separately) had doubled their returns year-to-date. The top performer, Yongying Technology Select Hybrid (Initiated) A, posted a year-to-date gain of 240.56%, setting a new high for historical “champion fund” returns.

Not all funds shared in the rally. Wind data indicates that as of December 29, Huafu Medical Innovation C had fallen 25.61% year-to-date, placing it at the bottom of the rankings. Several other biotech and consumer-themed funds also delivered weak results.

Looking ahead, multiple institutions remain constructive on the 2026 A-share outlook. Yang Delong, Chief Economist at Qianhai Kaiyuan Fund, told Time Weekly that while the market has seen bouts of volatility at elevated levels, the longer-term trend still resembles a “slow bull” or even a “long bull.” In his view, the market could gradually enter the second half of a bull cycle starting in 2026, potentially strengthening the overall wealth effect further.

AI-heavy portfolios powered standout returns, with the “champion fund” up more than 240%

In 2025, the A-share market’s “slow-bull” trend helped lift mutual fund performance substantially. According to Wind data, as of December 29, the top three public funds by return were Yongying Technology Select Hybrid (Initiated) A, Yongying Technology Select Hybrid (Initiated) C, and AVIC Opportunity Navigation Hybrid (Initiated) A. Their year-to-date returns were 240.56%, 238.44%, and 177.15%, respectively—effectively locking in the annual crown for Yongying Fund’s products.

Yongying Technology Select Hybrid (Initiated) was launched in October last year and was the first product managed by fund manager Ren Jie in his current role. As of the end of the third quarter, its top ten holdings were Xinyi Sheng, Zhongji Innolight, TFC Optical Communication, Shennan Circuits, Wus Printed Circuit, Shengyi Technology, Tychon, Montage Technology, Shijia Photons, and Changxin Bost.

The fund’s performance surged in the third quarter: Yongying Technology Select Hybrid (Initiated) A rose 99.74% during the quarter. That rally also drove a dramatic expansion in assets under management—from RMB 1.166 billion at the end of Q2 to RMB 11.521 billion at the end of Q3—propelling Ren Jie into the ranks of “100-billion-yuan” fund managers. However, another product he co-manages with Zhu Chenge—Yongying Hong Kong Stock Connect Technology Select Hybrid (Initiated) A—has struggled. Since its launch in July, it has fallen 4.66%, reflecting weaker performance.

Wind data shows that as of December 29, the number of “double-up funds” with year-to-date gains above 100% reached 164. Notably, this group includes both veteran products with more than 20 years of history and brand-new entrants launched this year.

For example, Manulife Growth Hybrid, established in 2003 and now 22 years old, had risen 114.31% year-to-date as of December 29—its best annual performance since inception. The fund switched managers in April to Sun Shuo, a younger manager with just over three years of experience. By the end of Q3, the portfolio leaned heavily toward technology, with Xinyi Sheng as its largest holding.

Among funds launched in 2025, five delivered returns above 100%. Three were passive index products, while the other two were China Europe Information Technology (Initiated) Hybrid A and C. Established in late February, these funds posted year-to-date returns of 106.76% and 105.50% as of December 29. Their top holdings included Xinyi Sheng, Alibaba-W, Foxconn Industrial Internet, and Tencent Holdings.

In its third-quarter report, China Europe Information Technology’s fund manager Du Houliang noted that the fund’s 83.7% quarterly return was not “normal” and attributed it largely to timing and favorable conditions. He cautioned that extreme short-term outperformance is not sustainable, explaining that the results reflected operating in a supportive industry and market environment—where AI has been expanding rapidly—and the fund happened to be positioned around AI-focused industrial research. Du became the fund manager in February, less than a year ago.

Overall, the best-performing funds shared a clear style: technology-led growth, especially concentrated along the AI computing power supply chain. A frequently cited trio in these portfolios is the so-called “Yi–Zhong–Tian” group—Xinyi Sheng, Zhongji Innolight, and TFC Optical Communication—often seen as “CPO (co-packaged optics) leaders.”

As of December 29, the three companies’ share prices had risen 440.52%, 404.04%, and 230.39% year-to-date, respectively. Wind data also shows that by the end of Q3, the number of funds holding each of these stocks among their top ten positions reached 797, 787, and 202.

One investor told Time Weekly that they purchased a Yongying fund product in August after a recommendation from a bank wealth manager, investing RMB 200,000. The investment has since returned more than 30%. The investor said they were surprised by the gain, especially after losing money in prior years on internet and liquor-sector funds. The fund they bought held a mix of sectors as of Q3, including AI computing power, nonferrous metals, and “new consumption” names.

It’s also worth noting that among the equity, hybrid, and index funds that doubled returns, one commodity fund stood out. Silver surged strongly this year—at times even outperforming gold. SDIC UBS Silver Futures (LOF), the only commodity fund currently tracking the main silver futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, posted a year-to-date gain of 142.11% for its A share class as of December 29.

More than 850 funds still in the red—will tech remain the main theme in 2026?

While many investors benefited from the rally, others did not. Time Weekly’s review shows that as of December 29, excluding bond funds, more than 850 funds still recorded negative returns year-to-date.

At the bottom of the list was Huafu Medical Innovation C, down 25.61% year-to-date. The fund was launched in August and has not yet disclosed holdings. According to its prospectus, its equity strategy focuses on medical innovation opportunities, including companies engaged in innovative drug R&D, manufacturing and sales, as well as firms developing and applying innovative diagnostic and treatment technologies.

Looking across the worst-performing funds, heavy positions tended to cluster in sectors such as food and beverages, biopharma, and real estate. In 2025, these sectors generally lagged amid macroeconomic restructuring, down cycles in parts of the industrial landscape, and policy conditions that were less supportive—dragging on related fund performance.

Industry participants widely expect the A-share market to continue its “slow bull” pattern into 2026, with the wealth effect potentially extending. At China Europe Fund’s 2026 strategy conference, Wang Pei—Chair of the firm’s Equity Separate Account Investment Committee and also a fund manager—said that based on listed-company indicators, technology is currently the only sector with the highest level of prosperity. He added that market volatility may increase next year, but opportunities should still emerge.

Wang argued that AI’s role as a dominant trend is now broadly recognized, and he will focus on how that trajectory evolves. In recent years, A-shares have largely moved along a value-return framework, layered with thematic rotations. With valuations rising significantly in 2025, he expects 2026 may enter the latter stage of valuation-driven performance, where corporate earnings could become the primary driver of share prices.

Yang Delong also told Time Weekly that technology stocks remain a key investment theme in 2026, particularly because 2026 is the opening year of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan,” where advancing technological innovation and strategic industries remains a major direction. Still, he expects differentiation within tech: leading companies that can win orders and deliver real results may continue to attract capital and rise strongly, while concept-driven and purely narrative trades could correct sharply—meaning the broad “sector effect” may be less uniform than in 2025.

For investors, the current environment calls for greater emphasis on diversification. A Debon Securities report suggests positioning technology innovation and “new quality productive forces” as a long-term core, aligning with industrial trends and policy direction to pursue excess returns through high-growth assets. At the same time, it recommends using high-dividend and strong-cash-flow assets as a portfolio “anchor,” helping reduce volatility during market pullbacks.