Fund Objective

The Investment objective of the fund is to achieve long term growth by investing in a managed portfolio of equities investing mainly in the UK and fixed interest investments such as corporate bonds and gilts.

View on Past Performance

Market volatility continued into October as the fallout from the shock bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers continued to reverberate around the world. The FTSE All-Share index finished 10.55% down in sterling, total return terms. Economic news continued to point to a recession for the UK, with indicators such as retail spending and housing remaining weak. Early in the month the Bank of England cut interest rates by 0.5% to 4.5%, in a coordinated move with other major central banks.This was followed by the announcement of a bank bailout package that would see the Government take stakes in UK banks whilst also providing extra liquidity to the money markets. However, to temper this good news was a data release showing that third quarter GDP fell by 0.5%, worse than expected, and this helped to drive down stocks significantly on the day.In the bond markets, the continued flight to quality and lower interest rate environment benefited short-dated gilts. Corporate bonds had another tough month as fears grew of recession.

Fund Details