Fund Objective

To provide capital growth.

View on Past Performance

Markets were extremely weak in September driven by deterioration in the banking sector, which culminated in a series of events including: Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; the bailout of AIG; significant acquisition and merger manoeuvres and the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley. The impact of such distress on the real economy is becoming clear; the UK housing market is declining rapidly and unemployment has risen to its highest level since 1999.Fund redemptions and the banning of short selling in financial shares have led to illogical movements in share prices, and markets remain unstable. Markets look with hope towards a suitable rescue plan that will find approval with US Congress.

Future Expectations

Fundamentals and valuations are supportive in the resources area, but these stocks are suffering in the short term from momentum selling; the shares should perform well on a medium-term perspective. In addition, corporate activity has improved recently with four oil companies receiving bids within the last month. Sentiment and risk aversion indicators also appear to be at all-time highs and this typically leads to a short-term improvement in markets.

Fund Details