Falling temperatures in the week ended Thursday, Feb. 28 added allure to natural gas funds, while clean energy funds flagged.
The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) led the trend of natural gas funds with stellar performance last week, rising 5.68 percent on investors' anticipation that colder weather will hike up demand for the commodity, according to Sumit Roy, Managing Editor of hardassetsinvestor.com.
UNG was joined by three other natural gas funds—NAGS, UNL and DCNG—gaining 4.48 percent, 4.41 percent and 3.92 percent, respectively.
The S&P 500 climbed 12.26 points, or 0.81 percent, during the five-trading-day period ended Thursday, Feb. 28, ending at 1,514.68.
Indonesian small-cap funds also made an appearance on the best performers' list as a weakening rupiah boosted U.S. investors' returns on local equities.
A dichotomy populated the worst performances as well, as the list was split between clean energy funds—which typically underperform when natural gas is up— and India small-cap funds, tanking as local exchanges plummeted following a less-than-appealing budget proposal from Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | 5.68% | 29,081,143 | 1,011.26 |
| EIDO | iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market | 5.02% | 2,079,112 | 492.46 |
| IDXJ | Market Vectors Indonesia Small Cap | 4.52% | 46,962 | 4.35 |
| NAGS | Teucrium Natural Gas | 4.48% | 27,363 | 4.08 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | 4.41% | 189,936 | 45.45 |
| IDX | Market Vectors Indonesia | 4.24% | 1,856,667 | 438.56 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | 4.23% | 16,286,629 | 179.45 |
| VXX | iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | 4.08% | 381,154,711 | 1,077.42 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | 4.08% | 4,784,201 | 13.53 |
| DCNG | iPath Pure Beta Seasonal Natural Gas ETN | 3.92% | 881,359 | 78.04 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GRN | iPath Global Carbon ETN | -7.92% | 4,804 | 0.73 |
| SCIF | Market Vectors India Small-Cap | -7.21% | 887,686 | 103.36 |
| TAN | Guggenheim Solar | -7.00% | 1,104,702 | 70.46 |
| SCIN | EGShares India Small Cap | -6.54% | 20,416 | 21.88 |
| KWT | Market Vectors Solar Energy | -6.23% | 60,462 | 12.45 |
| SMIN | iShares MSCI India Small Cap | -6.07% | 9,272 | 4.46 |
| PBW | PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy | -5.25% | 6,688,691 | 141.12 |
| UHN | United States Diesel-Heating Oil | -4.34% | 24,052 | 6.63 |
| IDHB | PowerShares S&P International Developed High Beta | -4.19% | 2,000 | 7.42 |
| UGA | United States Gasoline | -3.80% | 228,133 | 61.41 |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
