Fidelity Asian Values plc (LON:FAS) has announced its monthly summary for October 2023.
Portfolio Manager Commentary
The Trust’s NAV rose 13.7% during the 12-month period ended 31 October 2023, outperforming its reference index which rose by 13.1%. The Trust’s share price rose 13.7% over the same period. Stock selection was the key contributor to the Trust’s relative performance, particularly in China and India. Furthermore, underweight in Thailand also contributed to the relative performance. Meanwhile, an overweight in Indonesia held back relative returns. From a sector perspective, selections within energy
and utilities added value. The Trust is managed with an absolute return focus, completely agnostic of the index, with a bias towards high quality and value stocks.
Given this approach, stock selection was the key contributor to the fund’s relative performance. Of late, investors seem to be rotating out of growth stocks and into value names in the Asian small cap space, which also aided performance. This trend should continue as small cap value stocks remain at a significant discount to small cap growth stocks in Asia. The manager continues to believe that owning good businesses, run by competent managements at attractive prices is the most time-tested way to make money in the stock market.
Overall, the Trust was overweight consumer discretionary, financials, consumer staples and energy among others. At a country level, it was overweight China, Indonesia, and Hong Kong among others.
Fidelity Asian Values Plc (LON:FAS) provides shareholders with a differentiated equity exposure to Asian Markets. Asia is the world’s fastest-growing economic region and the trust looks to capitalise on this by finding good businesses, run by good people and buying them at a good price.
