Actively managed mutual funds in the Canadian equity and U.S. equity fund categories lagged indices in the nine months ended September 2006, Standard & Poor’s said today.

According to the Standard & Poor’s Indices Versus Active Funds Scorecard (SPIVA) for Canada, only 26.7% of Canadian equity funds outperformed the S&P/TSX composite index, while just 21.6% of U.S. equity funds beat the S&P 500 index.

Actively managed Canadian small-cap equity funds proved the exception, with 56.3% of them outpacing the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index. “Over longer time periods we continue to see indices outperforming the majority of active funds,” said Steve Rive, vice president of Canadian Index Services at Standard & Poor’s.

“Notably, less than 10% of actively managed Canadian equity funds have beat the S&P/TSX Composite Index in the last five years.” In addition, over the past five years, 47.2% of Canadian small-cap funds have outperformed the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index, and almost 15% of U.S. equity funds have outpaced the S&P 500 Index. Five-year average fund returns show active funds underperforming the S&P/TSX Composite Index and the S&P/TSX Capped Composite, both on an equal- and asset-weighted basis.

The complete third-quarter SPIVA Canada scorecard, as well as previous quarterly SPIVA reports, is available on www.spiva.standardandpoors.com.