Sanlam Namibia Man Prudential comment - Sep 03 - Fund Manager Comment28 Oct 2003
What influenced the performance of the fund?
The fund continued its excellent year to date performance during the 3 rd quarter on the back of value added by asset allocation decisions and solid stock picking. The move out of nominal bonds during the beginning of the quarter worked well as to did the re-entry towards the end of the quarter. The funds overweight to equities has also added value over the quarter.
Outlook
We remain confident on the domestic equity markets, but are watching the currency closely. With inflation under control, it appears the interest rates are likely to continue to come down over the next 3 months, giving nominal bond yields the opportunity to move down further. We expect the fund to continue its excellent performance both on a relative and absolute basis.
Snalam Namibia Man Prudential comment - Dec 2002 - Fund Manager Comment05 Mar 2003
Performance and Reason
The fund had a good December in relative terms by being in position 1 / 6. However, in absolute terms it had a disappointing month by returning a negative return of -1.43%. For the calendar year the fund ended in position 1 / 6 with a positive return of 2.33% against the median return of negative -6.7%. In December, the main reason for the fund's solid relative performance came from being overweight the gold sector and domestic bonds. The gold index increased by 20.8% and the All Bond Index by .81% in December. The All Share Index was down -2.85% led by Financials and Industrials which were down -7.7% and -5.3% respectively. Resources increased by 0.5% for the month of December.
Outlook
In the short term (next quarter) the outlook is likely to more of the same; i.e. neutral to underweight to resources while going the opposite in domestic sectors, which includes financials. At an asset allocation level, we are likely to remain overweight equity including quoted property while being neutral bonds. International should stay underweight.
However, on a 12-month view these positions will have to be seriously challenged, as the probability that the rand will weaken coupled with a resumption of accelerating global growth is likely to increase.