Stock markets can be volatile beasts – you can be sitting on handsome gains one minute and hefty losses the next. With many investors nervy about a possible correction, the key is to find a fund manager who delivers the goods irrespective of whether share prices are rising or plummeting.

We asked fund analysts Financial Express to highlight which managers have proved that they can consistently deliver the goods. Using a mixture of methodology including consistent outperformance against its benchmark, performance when markets fall or rise and a so-called risk-adjusted Alpha rating, which takes into account volatility, they have come up with a list of managers that cut the mustard.

In total they have collated a list of 110 managers that they suggest investors should consider when buying a fund, but to make it easier for you we have cherry-picked the top manager in several main sectors over a five-year period.

Some of the names will be familiar to you, others less so, while we have also canvassed the opinions of advisers to see if they agreed with the Financial Express ratings.

David Fuller's view While a good investment manager can make a difference, the first paragraph above is misleading. Even the best long-only equity funds will suffer if share prices are plummeting.

The huge variance in performance over five years by the managers mentioned shows that choosing the right sector or region is considerably more important than the actual manager.