To achieve capital growth through investment in a widely diversified portfolio of securities of companies which are listed in the US or Canada, or conduct a predominant proportion of their business in those countries.
The portfolio's performance relative to the S&P 500 Index was driven by holdings in the financials, information technology, and consumer discretionary sectors.The largest source of value added during the quarter was stock selection in financials, particularly in capital markets. Positions in asset management companies Franklin Resources and Charles Schwab were helped by the continued strength in global markets. Lack of exposure to REITs and an underweight in commercial banks also aided performance in the sector.An overweight allocation to the information technology sector added value. Within communications equipment, Juniper Networks benefited from accelerating sales growth and expanding margins. Apple continued to increase revenues on strong sales of Macintosh computers and iPods.Exposure to online retailer Amazon.com, which announced solid quarterly results due to a slower spending growth, supported relative gains in the consumer discretionary sector. The relative underperformance in healthcare was primarily attributable to stock selection in biotechnology. A position in Genentech was hampered by weakerthanexpected sales of key cancer drugs.
48.76p
