Asia investment trust, Fidelity Asian Values PLC (LON:FAS) monthly factsheet for January 2023
Portfolio Manager Commentary
The investment trust’s NAV rose 12.1% during the 12-month period ended 31 January 2023, outperforming its reference index which fell by 1.3%. The Trust’s share price rose 14.5% over the same period.
Stock selection was the key contributor to the fund’s relative performance, particularly in China, Indonesia and India. Meanwhile, selections in Singapore and Sri Lanka held back the relative performance. From a sector perspective, health care, financials, and materials added value.
Of late, investors seem to be rotating out of growth stocks and into value names in the Asian small cap space, but this trend should continue as small cap value stocks remain at a significant discount to small cap growth stocks. 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. He remains biased towards smaller companies due to three reasons. First, this space provides opportunities to invest in “winners of tomorrow” before they become well known. Secondly, this space is not widely followed by professional investors and hence offers a higher likelihood of finding “mispriced businesses”. Lastly, with over 19,000 listed companies, there is a lot to choose among “winners of tomorrow” and “mispriced businesses”.
Overall, the Trust was overweight consumer discretionary and financials among others. At a country level, it was overweight China, Australia and Indonesia.
Fidelity Asian Values Plc (LON:FAS) is an Asia investment trust that provides shareholders with a differentiated equity exposure to Asian Markets.
