The FSA Spy market buzz – 6 September 2024
Machine learning Chinese investment, BlackRock’s AI patience, Time Magazine’s AI cover, happier staff equal better returns, do wealth managers add value? sexy legs and much more.
Equities markets in Asia have been in the red for most of this year. The MSCI AC Asia ex-Japan Index has returned a negative 12.34% in US dollar terms year-to-date, according to FE data.
Sentiment towards the region has turned increasingly sour amid rising trade tensions between the US and China. In addition, the appreciation of the US dollar has negatively affected emerging market equities as a whole.
However, a number of fund managers, including Blackrock, Schroders and T Rowe Price, are positive on the asset class for the year ahead, citing better earnings expectations compared with Europe and cheaper valuations compared with global equity markets.
“Asia continues to be an important part of the world, as it contributes a large part of global growth,” Luke Ng, vice president at FE Advisory Asia, said.
“It is a high-growth area with long-term growth prospects, so everyone has their eyes on the Asia economy.”
Against this backdrop, FSA asked Ng to compare two Asia (ex-Japan) equity funds: the Hamon Asian Market Leaders Fund and the Schroder ISF Asian Opportunities Fund.
Hamon |
Schroders |
|
Size (fund level) |
$6m |
$5.4bn |
Inception |
1995 |
2006 |
Manager |
Hamon team |
Toby Hudson |
Three-year cumulative return* |
-0.63% |
39.24% |
Three-year annualised return* |
-0.32% |
11.50% |
Three-year annualised alpha* |
-7.29% |
4.26% |
Three-year annualised volatility* |
18.09 |
15.94 |
Morningstar analyst rating |
– |
Silver |
Morningstar star rating |
* |
***** |
FE Crown fund rating |
* |
***** |
OCF (retail share class) |
4.40% |
1.86% |
Machine learning Chinese investment, BlackRock’s AI patience, Time Magazine’s AI cover, happier staff equal better returns, do wealth managers add value? sexy legs and much more.
Part of the Mark Allen Group.