The news follows a strong upgrade on the telecoms sector from Morgan Stanley.
Data shows a portfolio of open-ended vehicles with at least a 30 per cent exposure to TMT returning more than a portfolio of closed-ended vehicles with the same weighting to the sector over one, three and five years.
Performance of average trust vs fund over 1-yr
Source: Financial Express Analytics
The difference in returns becomes more pronounced as the time scales grow; over one year, the funds outperformed the trusts by just one per cent, returning 18.5 per cent compared with 17.5 per cent.
Over three years the investment trusts returned an average of 37.4 per cent, while funds returned 42.9 per cent.
Trusts also lost more money in the downturn. Investors who put money into the average investment trust with exposure to TMT in March 2008 would have lost 27 per cent by March 2009, compared with 21 per cent from the funds.
Performance of average trust vs fund over 5-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
The return differential is most pronounced over five years, however, where the open-ended vehicles returned 43.1 per cent, compared with 33.7 per cent from the closed-ended vehicles.
There is also more of a selection of TMT-focused OEICs. There are 20 funds with at least 30 per cent invested in the sector, one of the best performing of which is AXA Framlington Global Technology.
Run by Jeremy Gleeson, the £161m fund was the best performer over three years, and the second-best over one and five years.
It holds US tech giants Apple and Google in its top-10 holdings, and the fund has recently increased its exposure to the semiconductor capital equipment sector by adding holdings in LAM Research, ASM Lithography and Teradyne.
Within investment trusts there are just two with a particular focus on TMT: RCM Technology Trust and Polar Capital Technology Trust.
There are, however, five closed-ended vehicles with at least a 30 per cent TMT holding: Anglo & Overseas, EP Global Opportunities, LMS Capital, and the two tech trusts mentioned above.
Polar Capital Technology Trust is the best-performing vehicle in the sample over one and three years.
The findings follow a Trustnet study showing investment trusts were a better way for investors to access the financials sector.