August was the second consecutive month of losses for investment funds that focus mostly on commodities and precious metals producers, according to preliminary performance data today released by Morningstar Canada.

The precious metals equity index was down 11.3% in August, making it by far the worst performer among the 42 Morningstar Canada fund indices. It was the second consecutive month in which the index suffered double-digit losses.

Meanwhile, the natural resources equity index declined by 4.4%, the third-worst performance after the Canadian focused small/mid cap equity index, which was down 4.5%.

The falling price of gold — down about 8% during the month — contributed to losses in the precious metals category. “Such erratic performance is common in what has historically been among the most volatile fund categories,” says Jordan Benincasa, fund analyst for Morningstar Canada. In the energy-heavy natural resources category, oil and gas stocks faltered in the wake of falling oil prices and expectations of a slowing global economy.

Despite the deepening slump in resources, the Canadian income trust equity index gained 5% to lead all other indices, according to preliminary data. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and trusts in the industrial sector more than offset the declines experienced by oil and gas trusts, which make up a large part of the holdings of funds in the income trust category. “Strong gains by some widely held trusts in non-resources categories also helped to keep the category in the black,” Benincasa said.

Funds specializing in technology and health care produced robust results in August. The science & technology equity index returned 4%, just ahead of the health care equity index, which was up 3.9%. The financial services equity index rose 1.5%.

Of the industry-diversified equity categories, funds investing in the United States performed the best. The fund indices that track the U.S. equity, U.S. small/mid cap equity, and North American equity categories each posted 4.3% returns. By comparison, the Canadian equity index returned only 1.3%.

Foreign equity funds investing outside North America either barely broke even or lost money last month. The international equity index was down 0.4%, while the European equity index eked out a 0.1% gain. Funds investing mainly in Asia and emerging markets were down, as the emerging markets equity index lost 4% while the Asia Pacific ex-Japan equity index fell by 3.9%.

All six indices that track the fixed-income categories had positive returns, led by a U.S. currency-assisted 1.1% gain by the global fixed income index. The laggard was the Canadian long term fixed income index, returning 0.3%. Among balanced categories, the top-performing index was Canadian equity balanced, returning 2%, followed by 1.5% for global equity balanced.

Final performance figures will be published next week.