Fund Objective

To achieve maximum capital growth through investment principally in the Far East and the Pacific Basin, but always excluding any investment in Japan, with at least 80% of the Trust's assets in Far Eastern securities.

View on Past Performance

Far East markets fell during the month in local terms as growth concerns intensified. However, currency gains against sterling, returns for UK investors edged into positive territory. The fund returned -0.3% which was behind its sector average.* In particular, the performance of Hong Kong and Taiwanese stocks with Chinese connections was disappointing.

Future Expectations

We believe earnings forecasts for 2009 are too high and must see further downgrades to realistic levels. When that process is complete, investors will have more confidence to invest. The quicker this happens the better, because Far East equities are already at good value and have discounted a lot of bad news. The fund favours markets that have more policy options economically to deal with a global downturn (e.g. China) and where earnings risks are lower (e.g. Australia).

Fund Details