Fidelity Asian Values plc (LON:FAS) has announced its monthly summary for November 2024.
Portfolio Manager Commentary
UK equities recovered in November, bouncing back from October’s weakness as investors weighed the trade implications of Donald Trump’s re-election and China’s new stimulus measures. Central banks continued with their dovish stance, with the US Federal Reserve (Fed) cutting interest rates by 25 basis points during the month. However, the Fed signalled a slower pace of future rate reductions, supported by stronger-than expected economic growth and a resilient labour market. The Bank of England followed suit, cutting its base rate by 25 basis points to 4.75%.
Despite their improved performance over recent years, UK equities still look cheap relative to other markets, and reasonable on an absolute basis. We believe that the combination of attractive valuations and the large divergence in performance between different parts of the market create good opportunities for attractive returns from UK stocks on a three-to-five-year view. Although the UK market continues to remain largely unloved by domestic investors, its attractive valuations are being recognised by other market participants such as overseas corporates and private equity firms who have been amongst the biggest bidders in the UK market. Underlining this interest has been the sharp spike in M&A activity which typically benefits the Trust given our focus on attractive valuations.
On a rolling 12-month basis, the Trust recorded NAV and share price returns of 21.2% and 19.7% respectively, compared to 15.7% for the index
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.
