Asia investment trust, Fidelity Asian Values PLC (LON:FAS) monthly factsheet for August 2023.

Portfolio Manager Commentary

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 overweight consumer discretionary, financials, consumer staples and energy among others. At a country level, it was overweight China, Indonesia, and Hong Kong among others.

The Trust’s NAV rose 4.3% during the 12-month period ended 31 August 2023, outperforming its reference index which rose by 1.3%. The Trust’s share price rose 12.2% over the same period.

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.