September was a "painful" month for long-term quality growth investors in Australia as the Steady Compounder stocks underperformed by around 5.4%, said Bank of America in a Friday report.

The top-ranked stocks by the triple momentum method were Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), Northern Star (ASX:NST), Newmont (ASX:NEM), Life360 (ASX:360), and Zip (ASX:ZIP), the report added.

The bank said that so far this year, global funds have bought the most shares in Block( ASX:XYZ), Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG), Goodman (ASX:GMG), Northern Star Resources, and Aristocrat (ASX:ALL), while selling Newmont, Amcor (ASX:AMC), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and CSL (ASX:CSL).

The bank noted that the main Australian share index rose by 0.4%, while global shares gained 2.2%.

The materials sector led gains, with seven of the ten best-performing stocks coming from this sector. Meanwhile, the weakest momentum was seen in energy, utilities, and health care sectors, with Yancoal (ASX:YAL), CSL, Xero (ASX:XRO), and Fisher & Paykel Health (ASX:FPH) at the bottom.