Thursday, August 27, 2009

Equities boost July index performance...




Hi there
The good performance continues for the Ernst & Young New Zealand Absolute Return Index – up almost 3% in July and up over 8% YTD.

The index was +20% last year and +8% over its first 6 months in 2007.

The index continues to demonstrate how a well-balanced portfolio may avoid the problems of beta or other macro problems.

The directional/volatility strategies which did so well last year are not doing quite as well this year – but the equity and commodity components are going great guns – and thus we have a very smooth return series through one of the worst environments in memory.
In July the biggest contributor was Australasian small cap manager, Pie Funds (+8.6% MoM), which is up over 50% year to date. Another strong performer was Commodity Strategies. Their NZARA Average was + 7.95% in July putting them +14% YTD. Well done guys.