Prices and Markets

Herald Investment Trust - Shifting sentiment Herald Investment Trust (HRI) is approaching its 25th birthday. HRI’s manager, Katie Potts, has been at the helm since launch, delivering considerable outperformance of equity markets. She has seen significant swings in sentiment towards the technology sector over that time. Growth stocks and the technology sector fell out of favour with investors towards the end of 2018. HRI held up better than the broader UK small cap market, but sterling weakness and worries about the...

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – Walking on sunshine Faced with rising prices for secondary solar power projects, Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF) has taken a strategic decision not to focus on growing its portfolio during the last couple of years. Instead, a focus on increasing operational efficiency, coupled with a 32.5% increase in the power price, has helped deliver a 16.2% year-on-year uplift in BSIF’s underlying earnings for the year ended 30 June 2018 (from 8.32p per share to 9.67p per share). BSIF has...

With the shock of the most recent market volatility, it is easy to make decisions based on emotions, or panic and pull out of your investments. But, it’s important to keep in mind that market fluctuations are natural and they’re cyclical. “Most investors can’t simply handle the volatility with a "Set-it and Forget it" asset allocation portfolio. We believe that investors need to stay fully invested over a market cycle as it is nearly impossible to market time,” said Alex...

2018 – the return of volatility A trade war, Brexit, US interest rate rises, slowing Chinese growth, a US government shutdown, a dispute over Italy’s budget, the Skripal poisonings, numerous elections – there was plenty to worry about in 2018. A last-minute dive left the US market in negative territory.Sterling continued to weaken.The Chinese currency weakened against the US dollar.Chinese domestic stocks were amongst the worst performing over the year.The oil price see-sawed, breaking $86 in early October before crashing to...

Russia’s economy benefitted for much of 2018 from a recovery in the oil price and rising prices for a range of other commodities. A weaker rouble has offset the recent oil price fall. Oleg Biryulyov, longstanding manager of JPMorgan Russian Securities (JRS), has many years of experience managing Russian equities. He is comforted by prospect of rising dividends over thecoming year. JPMorgan Russian Securities – Expert access to attractively valued market When QuotedData last wrote on JRS, attention was drawn...

In 2018, Aberdeen Emerging Markets (AEMC) gave up the gains it made in 2017; this left its shares trading on a 3.9% dividend yield (one of the highest in its peer group) and a wider discount to its net asset value, currently 15.0%. The shift was largely one of sentiment, investors were worried about the potential effects of rising US interest rates and a US trade war with China on emerging markets. Emerging market currencies weakened and funds focused on the sector experienced...

QuotedData’s economic roundup – January 2019 is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell any of the companies mentioned. Kindly sponsored by Polar Capital. Roundup The big event of December was the sell-off in US markets. Sharp falls left all major...

QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – January 2019 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of December 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Extract from money raised and returned in December The only new issue in December was of SDCL Energy Efficient Income, a fund designed to benefit from financing schemes aimed at improving energy efficiency such as LED lighting. Primary Healthcare...

BlackRock Throgmorton Trust – Throg’s shorts shine – With a decision on Brexit looming and US rates climbing, many investors appear to have adopted a more defensive stance. Dan Whitestone, manager of BlackRock Throgmorton Trust (THRG), has reduced the portfolio’s net exposure to markets to well below 100%, taking profits on some positions. Otherwise, Dan’s focus remains on the long-term drivers of growth. His ability to short (taking a negative exposure to) companies with unsound business models gives him another way of...