Lack of any positive direction

Published on Monday 23 June 2008 10:22

WE ARE just a month away from the halfway point of the competition and, while we have seen peaks and troughs in equity and bond markets over the five-month period, we are seeing very little by way of positive returns in the competitors' portfolios.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to defy gravity – it's therefore just as well that Angus MacDonald has ten years before he plans to retire.

Inevitably, given time, investor and market sentiment will become less reactive to economic news and financial markets will find some sense of direction.

But, in the meantime, we will have to adjust to the sudden market moodswings between euphoria and despair that seem to be taking place on a monthbymonth basis.

Investors with the ability to resist the urge to sell on the first signs of turbulence and rideout the market volatility will reap the rewards in the end as will our client, MacDonald.

Over the past four weeks, a few of our competitors have repositioned their portfolios and have introduced some new funds in an attempt to capture what little growth there is in the current marketplace.

Emerging and newly developing global market funds, commodity funds, natural resources and infrastructure funds seem to be the main focus of attention and are the only areas except cash that are showing positive returns.

Raymond Ellis is director of Scott-Moncrieff Wealth Management