The past two years have been a rollercoaster ride for investors in south east Asian equity trusts.
The past two years have been a rollercoaster ride for investors in south east Asian equity trusts.
Twelve months ago, the bottom had fallen out of the market with Asia plunged into a full-scale economic recession. Heavyweight equity trusts like BT’s Pacific Basin Fund had more than halved its assets under management during the worst of the crisis.
However, by April this year, things had picked up again. Japan, described by one fund manager as the “200 pound gorilla” on the block, began a massive corporate restructuring as the economy started to strengthen. This had a domino effect on the surrounding economies, such as Korea, which pulled ahead of industry forecasts of a recovery. (Though it must be noted that not all countries in the region have recovered.)
The yearly returns of these funds illustrate the see-sawing fortunes of the region and are among the more spectacular in recent Assirt tables. BT’s Pacific Basin Fund has returned just under 68 per cent for the year to November 5. However, it’s returns are not nearly so stunning as that of IN-VESCO’s Asian Growth Fund, which has lived up to its name in the literal sense, returning 77 per cent for the year.
Other funds with glowing coffers are Dresdner’s Taipan Fund (64 per cent), Dresdner’s Pacific Eq-uity Fund (62 per cent) and NAFM’s Investment Trust Asia Growth Fund (63 per cent).
Top 5 Unit Trusts — Equity south east Asia (ranked by returns)
Fund 1 year return (%)
INVESCO Asian Growth Fund 77.3
BT Pacific Basin Fund 66.7
Dresdner Taipan Fund 63.5
NAFM Inv Tr Asia Growth Fund 63
Dresdner Pacific Equity Fund 62.2
