A British-based fund of investment firm Fidelity which holds Japanese stocks came top in a performance ranking for last week, as Japan markets continued to set a strong pace, figures on Tuesday showed.

The Fidelity Institutional Japan account rose by 4.42 percent in the week to May 21, the strongest gain for any fund ranked by fund research firm Lipper.

Other Japan funds, such as the Schroder Japan Alpha Plus and the Invesco Institutional Japan fund also chalked up strong gains over the past week.

Elsewhere, the Merrill Lynch Gold and General fund was a strong performer, rising 4.31 percent.

Returns on most other funds were relatively muted last week, with north American funds being hit by worries about high oil prices and the prospect of higher interest rates, Lipper said.

(Lipper)