Fidelity Asian Values plc (LON:FAS) monthly factsheet for January 2026.
Portfolio Manager Commentary
January factsheet
The Trust’s NAV rose 20.8% during the 12-month period ended 31 January 2026, outperforming its reference index which rose by 19.1%. The Trust’s share price increased by 29.4% over the same period.
Our process is driven by owning good businesses run by management we trust and owning them only when we have ample margin of safety – this often leads us to take contrarian positions as it is easier to find undervalued businesses in such areas of the market. Following this philosophy, we have a significant percentage of our portfolio in Hong Kong, which enhanced relative returns. Meanwhile, the security selection in Indonesia weighed on returns. From a sector perspective, selections within materials and consumer discretionary added value.
Given this approach, stock selection was the key contributor to the company’s relative performance. Of late, investors seem to be rotating out of growth stocks and into value names in the Asian small-cap space. This trend should continue as small-cap value stocks remain at a significant discount to small-cap growth stocks in Asia. Overall, the Trust was overweight consumer discretionary, financials, consumer staples, and energy. At a country level, it was overweight China, Indonesia, and Australia.
