To provide long term capital growth through the active management of a diversified portfolio. It will invest primarily, either directly or indirectly, in bond and equity investments, generally by investing in other Old Mutual collective investment schemes. There are no specific restrictions as to the economic sectors or geographic regions that the scheme may invest in.
Equity markets recovered some of the losses suffered in August, with the MSCI World Index rallying by 7.1%. The best performing market in local currency terms was the UK with a gain of 4.5% but the US outperformed in sterling terms, with a return of 9.8%. Asia and Japan remained weak, posting negative returns.Bond markets performed well, with the JP Morgan Global Government Bond Index rising by 6.7%, although a large part of this gain was due to the strength of the US dollar and the Japanese yen. Gilts again performed well in local currency terms with a return of 2.1%. The fund gained 2.3% but underperformed its peer group by 0.5% despite a reduction in cash to fund increases in both the North American equity weighting and the bond allocation.The overweight position in equities was reduced to underweight by the end of the month. We also closed the month underweight cash and remained overweight bonds which appear attractively valued. Within equities, the fund is underweight emerging markets and overweight Europe on valuation grounds and, within the UK, we are overweight smaller companies which offer opportunities to add value through good stock selection.
3,125.85p
