Offshore investing paid off in first quarter of 2011

Despite the appearance of two black swans in the form of turmoil in the MENA regions and an earthquake in Japan, global equities ended the quarter on a strong note, outperforming a lacklustre domestic equity market by a considerable margin.

The MSCI World Index yielded a total return of 4,3% in dollar terms, versus the FTSE/JSE All Share Index’s 1,1% in local currency terms.

“This, together with a weaker rand, resulted in four of the top performing ASISA (Association for Savings & Investment South Africa) unit trust categories being foreign subcategories (see Table 1),” says Ryk de Klerk, executive director of PlexCrown Fund Ratings.

“The Domestic Equity Resources and Basic Materials subcategory also ended up amongst the top five because of the weaker rand and the strong rise in commodity prices over the quarter.”

Table 2, which shows the best and worst performers over various periods ended 31 March 2011, also reveals foreign funds as the best performers over the March quarter.

Over the past quarter, Coris Capital International Value Fund of Funds was the best performing fund with 12,6%, and Marriott International Growth Feeder Fund came second with 9,9%. SIM Industrial Fund topped the charts over 12 months with 22,4%.

The best fund over the last three-year period was the Marriott Dividend Growth Fund with 17,7% per annum, while Old Mutual Mining and Resources Fund A took the honours over five years with 18,8% per annum.

The PlexCrown Survey is available on www.plexcrown.co.za.