Tether, the world’s most valuable stable coin by market capitalization, has been gaining a lot of traction lately. The latest development is that Tether whales moved about 100 million USDT to unknown wallets in less than a day, as seen on Whale Alert, an advanced blockchain tracker, and analytics system.

Data from Conimarketcap shows that Tether is ranked as the 3rd most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap of $9.165 billion, with a daily volume of about $20 billion as at the time this report was drafted.

Quick fact: Tether is designed as a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose digital coins in circulation are backed by the same value of traditional fiat currencies like the U.S dollar, Japanese Yen, or the Euro. It trades under the ticker symbol USDT.

The “Tether Treasury’s” USDT wallet has grown in recent times in becoming the top holder of the stablecoin, meaning that some crypto traders, investors may have managed to successfully withdraw their stakes from circulation. The removal of about 29% of the total volume of Tether in circulation has recently coincided with a huge depletion in the amount of Tether held in 2 USDT wallets separately owned by Huobi and Binance.

Recall about a month ago, Nairametrics, outlined a report talking about the organic growth of Tether’s market capitalization as one of the major reasons for the gain Bitcoin (BTC) is presently having in the mid-term. “Interest in digital links to the dollar represents the need to handle and store value in the world’s reserve currency without an intermediary.”

Tether expected to surpass Ethereum, based on strength of the U.S dollar

Gold prices rose on Monday, standing firm above the major level of $1,800 per ounce, as increasing COVID-19 cases across the world, as well as a weaker dollar, underpinned the safe-haven metal.

Gold futures increased by 0.52% at $1,811.52 per ounce by 08.21GMT while the U.S dollar index that tracks the greenback against major currencies fell by 0.2%, making gold less expensive for holders of other currencies.

Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at financial services firm AxiCorp explained that “The COVID-19 narrative is not going away and we don’t think the U.S. Federal Reserve is going to change course on the rates anytime soon, which should support gold prices. The medium-term outlook for the economic recovery still looks very uncertain and this continues to provide ample room for gold to float higher.”

Over 12.83 million people have reportedly been infected by the pandemic globally and 565,626 people have also died. COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have continually increased as well; Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases within 24 hours on Sunday.

READ MORE: Gold shines on as investors rush to safe haven assets

Reuters’ technical analyst, Wang Tao, explained that spot gold still targets $1,831, as it has broken a resistance at $1,796 per ounce.

Further worsening the economic worries, U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday mentioned that he was not currently thinking about negotiating a “Phase 2” trade deal with China. With gold being a safe-haven asset particularly to mitigate risks of economic uncertainty, investors and speculators have increased their bullish positions on it, causing the price to rise.

Mutual Funds are a great form of investing especially if you are a passive investor. According to data from the Security and Exchange Commission, Nigeria has about 107 Mutual Funds cut across several Fund Types. Here is a breakdown of the Fund Types available for investors according to SEC.

To determine the best performing Funds, we looked at the Fund Prices as of the last business day in December 2019 and compared to the fund prices as of the last trading day of June 2020. These are the top 5. We also included profiles of the funds as described in their websites.

Explore useful research data from Nairametrics on Nairalytics

New Gold ETF

Vetiva’s The NewGold Exchange Traded Fund (NewGold) is an Exchange Traded Fund that was listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in December 2011. It tracks the price of gold and offers institutional and retail investors the opportunity to invest in a listed instrument (structured as a debenture) that is fully backed by gold bullion. Each NewGold security is equivalent to approximately 1/100 ounces of real gold bullion held in a secured stockpile of gold bullion. All gold is kept in the form of London Gold Delivery Bars and Good Delivery Standards are prescribed by LBMA.

December 27th

Fund Price – N5,220

June 26th

Fund Price – N8,000

Return –  53.3%

Ranking – First

Commentary: Gold prices have been on the up since the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the global economy. Investors are uncertain and as history shows gold prices are always up during market uncertainty. If you are looking for protective investment in times of uncertainty then this is the best performing fund so far.

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FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund

FBNH owned The FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund is a pure equity fund that invests money predominantly in a portfolio of Nigerian companies, using a rigorous, research-based and tested evaluation system.

The fund provides long-term capital preservation by investing at least 75% of the fund’s assets (excluding cash and cash equivalents) in a diversified portfolio of high-quality companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. In order to manage liquidity, the fund may also invest up to 25% in short-term money market instruments and deposits with financial institutions.

December 27th

Fund Price – N129.17

June 26th

Fund Price – N197.29

Return –  52.7%

Ranking – Second

Commentary: For a fund that is predominantly focused on equities, this a pretty much impressive performance by all standards. For example, the NSE All-Share Index is down 9.8% year to date. If you are worried about investing in stocks and don’t have the heart for it and you are looking for a mutual fund, then this is the best performing fund out there.

READ ALSO: How to build a portfolio fit for 22nd Century

Vantage Balanced Fund

Investment One’s Vantage Balance Fund (launched in 2002) is a fund focused on long term capital appreciation, which is achieved by maintaining a flexible diversified portfolio of equities, fixed income, money market, and real estate investments. Assets are high-quality equity instruments quoted on The NSE while the bond issuers have an investment-grade rating from a credit rating agency registered by SEC.

December 27th

Fund Price – N2.21

June 26th

Fund Price – N2.87

Return –  29.9%

Ranking – Third

Commentary: This is a Mixed fund as it invests in a diverse pool of assets. Interesting to note that the managers of this fund also have an Equity-Based Fund, a Dollar Fund, and a Fixed Income Fund. But none of them come close to the Balanced Fund. If you are looking for a portfolio with a good mix of investment assets then this is the best performing as of June 2020.

READ ALSO: Why interest rates on treasury bills, bonds crashed

Legacy USD Bond Fund

FCMB Asset Management Owned Legacy USD Bond Fund (launched in 2018) is a SEC-registered US Dollar-denominated Collective Investment Scheme, structured as a high-yield mutual fund. The Fund seeks to generate stable income over the long-term. Legacy USD Bond Fund invests in credit-rated US Dollar-denominated fixed income securities issued by the Nigerian Government, Supranational bodies, and Corporate entities.

December 27th

Fund Price – N306.5

June 26th

Fund Price – N360.5

Return –  24.4%

Ranking – Fourth

Commentary: The Legacy Bond Fund is the best performing mutual fund if you are looking for dollar-denominated fixed-income debt securities like Eurobonds. At 24.4% they seem to be holding bonds with good yields and market values respectively. Apart from the Bond Fund, managers of the Legacy Bond Fund also manage a Fixed Income Fund, a Money Market Fund and an Equity Fund. If you are looking to invest in Eurobonds then this mutual fund is the best performing.

Vantage Dollar Fund

Investment One’s Vantage Dollar Fund (launched in 2018) is a SEC registered open-ended Unit Trust Scheme in Nigeria. The Fund seeks to provide investors with a bias for Dollar-denominated securities access to such securities, which ordinarily would be inaccessible to them by virtue of the minimum amount typically required to make such investments. It will invest primarily in Corporate and Sovereign Eurobonds.

December 27th

Fund Price – N401.02

June 26th

Fund Price – N469.2

Return –  17.0%

Ranking – Fifth

Commentary: This is the second dollar mutual fund on the list and the second from Investment One to make the list of best 5. It appears they have a hang on fund management. Dollar Mutual funds are a great source of investments and it is great to see another in the top 5. Thus, if you want another option, then this is one you can also go for. 

Bubbling Under: The following funds make up the rest of the top 5 on our list and in descending order.

6. AIICO Balanced Fund
7. VI ETF
8. Coronation Fixed Income Fund
9. CEAT Fixed Income Fund
10. United Capital Euro Bond Fund