Investing with a bang: six funds to fire up your portfolio

It’s Bonfire Night – and the perfect time to consider which investment funds could add a much-needed spark to your overall portfolio. Just like the fireworks seen on November 5th, these careful additions can burst into life given the right economic or market conditions. But their impressive displays can also be short-lived, which is why most investors shy away from viewing them as a core holding.

The good news is that there are plenty of funds that can help light up returns due to their investment philosophy and approach. They include those focusing on smaller, innovative companies, developing areas of the world, out-of-favour businesses and overlooked industries. Here we have selected funds from a variety of sectors with the potential to make diversified portfolios fizz over the coming months.

Six funds adding a bang!

Fidelity China Special Situations

China is attractive to investors due to the combination of a vast population with rising incomes, urbanisation, and strong consumer demand for products. Fidelity China Special Situations primarily invests in companies that are either listed domestically in China or on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The trust has almost 40% of assets in the consumer discretionary sector, with holdings such as Alibaba*, the technology and e-commerce conglomerate. Of course, the pursuit of higher returns comes with increased risk. Single-country investing, particularly in developing markets, tends to be more volatile than investing in developed areas.

Read more: High risk, high reward: the case for (and against) China

Allianz Global Hi-Tech Growth

Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity and the digital consumer are all key themes, and the pressure is on to find the best companies in these areas. The Allianz Global Hi-Tech Growth fund benefits from an unconstrained strategy, which gives it greater freedom to focus on high-growth businesses. We like the fund’s multi-cap nature and the managers’ ability to look beyond the most obvious mega-tech names when constructing the portfolio. The narrow focus on technology makes it a high-risk fund for investors, with performance heavily dependent on whether the sector is in favour.

WS Lightman European

The WS Lightman European fund, managed by Rob Burnett and George Boyd-Bowman, is known for being contrarian and going against the herd. This can obviously result in bumper returns when the market has got it wrong, although there’s also the risk that its calls won’t pay off immediately, or at all. It means that this type of fund is likely to be at either the top or bottom of the performance charts, depending on whether value style is in favour. Therefore, it’s likely to be attractive to investors who can stomach a degree of volatility in the hope of enjoying decent returns.

Learn more about being a contrarian investor

Baillie Gifford Japan Trust

There are plenty of attractive companies in Japan – and investors have benefitted from better governance and increased dividends. The Baillie Gifford Japan Trust, which was launched in 1981, aims to provide capital growth by investing in the country’s small and medium-sized companies. It’s run by an experienced team whose disciplined approach has provided shareholders with excellent long-term returns. However, investing in smaller businesses means the portfolio is likely to experience some volatility, while also facing the risk of currency fluctuations. 

Thomas Patchett, investment specialist at Baillie Gifford, told us more about the long-term opportunities in Japan on the Investing on the go podcast. 

Artemis US Smaller Companies

Smaller companies are often at an earlier stage of their growth and are followed by fewer stock market analysts. This means they have an increased chance of surprising on the upside. The Artemis US Smaller Companies fund, which uses multiple sources to generate portfolio ideas, has delivered impressive long-term performance. According to the latest factsheet, over 40% of assets are in companies with market capitalisations of between $2 billion and $10 billion**. As far as risks are concerned, this fund is high-conviction and quite concentrated. This means there’s even more pressure on the fund manager to make the right stock selection calls.

Jupiter Gold And Silver

How about if things go south this year? Well, gold and silver are regarded as being safe havens that can come into their own during a crisis – and that could be soon, with analysts forecasting a recession. Jupiter Gold and Silver is a truly unique fund that invests in both the physical metals and the companies involved in mining them. We regard the fact that this fund can own physical bullion, which is something denied to many of its peers in this sector, as a very attractive quality. The fund has a greater weighting in miners than in bullion and in silver over gold. Both these factors have tended to make the portfolio more volatile and increase risk.

Read more: Why gold, silver and lithium still have room to run

*Source: fund factsheet, 30 September 2025

**Source: fund factsheet, 31 August 2025