Global equities succumbed to another wave of selling in October, as the weakening financial system triggered further bank bailouts and liquidity injections. Eastern Europe's vulnerabilities were exposed after the IMF bailed out Hungary and Ukraine. Economies of the world appeared to be headed towards a synchronised recession: the US and the UK's third-quarter GDP shrank, while China grew at the slowest in five years.As growth concerns outweigh inflation worries, central banks, including those in Europe and Japan, made unprecedented coordinated interest rate cuts. During October, we sold Premier Foods due to balance sheet concerns after extensive due diligence, as well as Portugal Telecom. Conversely, we bought Japan's robotics manufacturer Fanuc, which is seeing strong demand, UK-listed Standard Chartered and Brazil's Petrobras, on attractive valuations.