Gold-oriented mutual funds were the lone category to post a negative rate of return for the April-June period, according to the latest quarterly survey of 1,755 mutual funds by Lipper Analytical Services Inc. The investment researcher said Thursday the best performers were mutual funds of health and science stocks, and added that funds invested in growth stocks generally did better than those invested in other stocks or in bonds.

Lipper said health and biotechnology funds posted a 17.11 percent return in the second quarter. Funds invested in science and technology stocks had an 11.08 percent return, the survey said. It was generally an upbeat quarter for mutual funds, which had posted a negative rate of return on average in the first three months of the year.

The average stock fund, including various international and speciality stock funds, posted a 5.53 percent rate of return, the survey said. That compared to a negative rate of return of 2.80 percent in the first quarter. But the worst performers were gold funds with a negative return of 10.27 percent in the quarter. All 10 worst-performing funds were invested in gold.