Fidelity Asian Values plc (LON:FAS) has announced its monthly summary for September 2023.

Portfolio Manager Commentary

The Trust’s NAV rose 12.8% during the 12-month period ended 30 September 2023, outperforming its reference index which rose by 11.2%. The Trust’s share price rose 16.5% over the same period.

Stock selection was the key contributor to the Trust’s relative performance, particularly in China, Indonesia and India. Meanwhile, being underweight in South Korea held back the relative performance. This country selection has been a headwind to performance given South Korean equities were supported by the strong performance of several stocks in the technology sector. From a sector perspective, selections within financials and energy added value. The Trust is managed with an absolute return focus, completely agnostic of the index, with a bias towards high quality and value stocks.

Given this approach, stock selection was the key contributor to the Trust’s relative performance. Of late, investors seem to be rotating out of growth stocks and into value names in the Asian small cap space, which also aided performance. This trend should continue as small cap value stocks remain at a significant discount to small cap growth stocks in Asia. The manager continues to believe that owning good businesses, run by competent managements at attractive prices is the most time-tested way to make money in the stock market.

Overall, the Trust was mainly overweight consumer discretionary, financials and consumer staples. At a country level, it was mostly overweight China, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.

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.