Fund Objective

To provide long term capital growth.

View on Past Performance

Japanese equities suffered in September and the MSCI Japan Small Cap index fell 11.69% in local currency terms, for the month. Stocks were hurt globally when the US House of Representatives rejected the first draft of a $700 billion rescue package for the US financial system, although the bill has since been approved.The Fund underperformed the benchmark in September. The largest impact came from the holding in Daihatsu Diesel which underperformed the index by some margin. Other stocks to hold back performance this month included Message Co. and Furuno Electric Co.

Future Expectations

We believe the next market themes to affect the small caps sector will include the stimulus package announced by the Japanese government, lower commodity prices and an increased interest in environmental technology. We intend to look for new stocks related to these themes and make decisions based on their fundamentals and valuation.

Fund Details