Fund Objective

The Fund seeks to achieve capital growth by investing predominantly in quoted Far East stockmarkets.

View on Past Performance

The value of the fund rose 1.26% in the month of August, this compared with a gain of 1.27% in the benchmark FTSE Asia Pacific ex. Japan Sterling index. The Asian markets failed to sustain its upward momentum that started from the second half of July. In fact, the markets were down in local currency terms. Two factors have material impacts on the markets in August.First, the sharp rise of the US dollars has helped the export sectors depsite the deteriorating global economic outlook. Second, August marked the peak month for earnings reporting and individual stocks tend to be voltaile during this period. In general, the forward corporate guidance was conservative though this is not unexpected given the current economic enviromrnent. In the past month, Healthcare and Utilities were the best performing sectors whilst Telecom and Industrial were the worst.The fund performed in line with the benchmark in August. I have increased the defensiveness of the portfolio in August by raising the weightings in Telecoms and Utilities. The weakness of the rebounce on the back of falling oil prices reflects the weak underlying tone of the markets. In addition, September and October are traditionally the most difficult months for the markets.

Future Expectations

I will continue to monitor economic data and the Central Banks reactions closely to assess the degree of the slowdown. The fund composition will be adjusted accordingly.

Fund Details