an investment fund that invests predominantly in shares listed on a Stock Exchange. The fund can be a general fund invested in a wide spread of shares or a specialist equity fund which concentrates its investments in one particular sector of the market. The aim of an equity fund is usually capital growth rather than income.
[...] Individual fund performance is often compared with a benchmark, perhaps one of those discussed above. But assess the value of the comparison. For example, it is useful to compare an equity fund performance against inflation but it is hardly surprising that it beats inflation. [...]