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Global Strategy Fund: February 2023

Summary 

  • Global markets took a step back in February, partially offsetting the upward momentum seen at the start of the year. Geopolitical tensions between the US and China created additional headwinds, weighing on the initial rally seen in January following the re-opening of the world’s second largest economy resulting in the MSCI China Index giving back over 13% for the month.
  • All the equity subsectors produced negative returns for February, with Basic Materials and Real Estate subsectors posting the largest negative returns of -6.4% and -5.9% respectively. Global equities, as measured by the FTSE All-World Total Return Index returned -2.8% for the month.
  • Growth stocks, although in negative territory with a return of -1.8%, outperformed value stocks that returned -2.9%.
  • Global bonds (as measured by The FTSE WorldBIG Index) had a negative month returning -3.2%.
  • The Ashburton Global Strategy Fund priced for the last time in February, adding +0.53% between 25th January 2023 and the 22nd February 2023. The fund outperformed its SAA that returned -1.9% for the month of February.
  • All underlying managers in the Fund, except Aurum, produced negative returns for the period under review. 
  • With high market volatility during February, the alternatives manager, Aurum, provided some good hedging and produced a return of 0.4%.
  • Value stocks had a negative month and the US deep value manager, Conventum Lyrical fell -3.25% for the period, and the concentrated equity manager, Mundane performed in line with the global equity benchmark with a return of -2.8%.
  • The core equity manager, Epoch, also recorded a negative return for the month of -2.2%, but above the global equity benchmark.
  • Global bonds ended the month in the red; and the exposure via the Colchester Global Bond Fund followed bond markets lower with a return of -4.61% underperforming the Global Bond benchmark. The small exposure to Franklin Templeton also detracted from performance with a return of -6.39%.
  • The Ashburton Global Strategy Fund reflects the macroeconomic house view of Ashburton Investments, and subsequently the Tactical Asset Allocation of the fund was changed in November 2022. The equities exposure was reduced from 65% to 61% and the fund is now at an underweight position to its SAA. The Cash exposure was increased to an overweight position of 4%.