Africa becomes the 'frontier market' of choice for investors By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 01-Jul-2009
The addition of the Investec Africa and Middle East fund to the Hargreaves Lansdown Vantage platform marks the growing popularity of Africa as the new frontier market of choice for specialist regional investors.

Advisers cautious on new wave of residential property vulture funds By Leonora Walters,Reporter 24-Jun-2009
The steep fall in residential property prices has resulted in a number of vulture funds promising high returns, with even more expected in the second half of the year, but advisers warn these unregulated funds are only suitable for experienced investors.

Newton signals new landscape for asset managers By Jonathan Boyd,Editor-in-chief, Financial Express 03-Jun-2009
Volatility, lower expectations of returns, and a further shift towards absolute return demands from clients will mark out the new landscape for asset managers, according to the latest thematic thinking to be published by Newton Investment Management.

IMA adds one year timeframe for absolute return funds By Barney Hatt,Reporter 29-May-2009
The IMA has amended its main definition of funds in the Absolute Return sector to emphasise the fact they should be delivering absolute returns over a 12-month timeframe.

Absolute Return funds triumph in latest AFI rebalancing By Sarah Beasley and Jonathan Boyd,Analyst, FER & Editor-in-Chief 15-May-2009
Absolute Return funds have stormed into the lists of most popular funds, as selected by IFAs for the constituents of the three AFI indices in the latest rebalancing that took place on 1 May.

AFI Cautious Index: Getting more cautious By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 01-May-2009
At the last rebalancing on 1 November 2008 we saw the AFI Cautious index get distinctly more cautious.

AIC Technology and Telecoms Sector: Signalling a recovery? By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 27-Apr-2009
Tech stocks have done incredibly well out of the recent market rallies and the sector could come up with a winner should a stock market recovery be around the corner.

Forestry and Timber - a viable investment alternative? By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 05-Mar-2009
The AIC Forestry and Timber sector is a specialist sector comprising of just two trusts invested in the securities of forestry and timber companies. The sector has, like many others, taken heavy losses over the last year; losing 15.43 per cent for the year ending 3 March 2009.

Popularity for Artemis Income fund grows By Sarah Beasley,Financial Express Analyst 12-Jan-2009
The Artemis Income fund continues to be a popular Equity Income fund. As investors pour their money into this fund we take a look at the reasons for its success and look at its future prospects.

Fund in focus: Neptune Japan Opportunities Fund By Sarah Beasley,Financial Express Analyst 08-Jan-2009
By employing an investment strategy which runs contrary to others in the sector, the Neptune Japan Opportunities fund has achieved positive returns in a hostile environment.

On and off - the taxing and the tinkering By Martin Wood,Senior Analyst, Financial Express Research 01-Jul-2009
April's budget measures brought a modicum of reform to the Investment Trust universe, in that the double taxation anomaly - that set ITs apart from other collective investment vehicles such as unit trusts - is to end from 1 September 2009. There still remain other tax issues for investors to consider, but first we have a brief summary of some background.

Investment Trust Review: Small is bountiful By Martin Wood,Senior Analyst, Financial Express Research 01-Jun-2009
In a recent report, the Association of Investment Companies points to a renewed sense of optimism in equity markets, with particular emphasis on smaller companies.

Bonds: The only way is down? By Sarah Beasley,Analyst, Financial Express Research 09-Apr-2009
Bonds have come a long way in the last 18 months, as investors continue to pile into this asset class we look at the story so far and ask whether there’s any further that they can go.

Managers struggle to keep pace with the Latin beat By Sarah Beasley,Analyst, Financial Express 02-Mar-2009
Until recently investment in Latin American funds was very much en vogue. With funds investing in the region returning over 500 per cent in the five year period 2003-2007 it’s not hard to see why this emerging market was tipped for greatness. Many of the panellists in the Adviser Fund Index were including Latin America focused funds in their portfolios.

Corporate bonds just got interesting By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 26-May-2009
Bond funds may have a rather dull reputation, but now is the time to start taking an interest.

Bonds should always be part of your portfolio By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 21-Apr-2009
For all the talk of whether now is the time to be buying into bonds, or to re-enter the equity market, or even if property could be due a comeback; the simple truth is a well diversified portfolio of funds should always have a fixed income element to it.

Small cap snapshot: Premature recovery plays By Rob Mackinlay 21-Jan-2009
With fund factsheets appearing once a month it is not clear which, if any fund managers have been stung by premature recovery plays.

Mena funds reap rewards By Barney Hatt,Reporter 01-Sep-2008
Funds invested in the Mena region grew by an average of 19.70% in the first half of 2008, according to Lipper’s first-half GCC fund market report.

Absolute returns and convolute concerns By Martin Wood,Senior Analyst, Financial Express Research 26-Jun-2009
A number of conflicting considerations await prospective investors in the Investment Management Association's Absolute Return sector, but this has not discouraged the considerable inflows of investors' money which, since the grouping's creation in April 2008, has seen sales expand from a little more than £1bn to £4.6bn, according to the latest IMA statistics.

Roll up for the mystery tour By Martin Wood,Senior Analyst, Financial Express Research 15-Jun-2009
In the Investment Management Association's Specialist sector there is a group of funds that carries a focus on a particular country or geographical region. The reason why these funds are housed in this sector is because they do not fit anywhere else in the IMA's system of classification.

Right time to invest in Russian equity markets? By Elena Ogram,Fund Manager 29-Jun-2009
The Russian equity market is heavily dominated by exporters of natural resources. Oil and gas companies, for instance, comprise more than 50 per cent of the Micex and RTS indices. As a result, the dynamics of Russian equity markets are closely correlated to the oil price.

Will the Budget changes focus the spotlight on EIS and VCT investments? By Philip Roden,Director at Clubfinance  26-Jun-2009
The Government offers tax breaks for investing in small high-risk companies through various Venture Capital Schemes, including the Corporate Venturing Scheme (CVS), Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs).

European pension funds increase alternative weightings By Barney Hatt,Reporter 21-Apr-2009
European pension schemes are increasing their allocation to non-traditional asset classes to manage their risks more effectively following last year’s market turmoil, according to Mercer’s annual European Asset Allocation survey.

Pension funds trapped in Small Cap exposure By Rob Mackinlay,Reporter 30-Mar-2009
Several pension funds were exposed to the shifts in pricing of the biggest movers in the FTSE Small Cap index today.

The Alpha Manager interview: Tim McCarron By Jonathan Boyd,Editor-in-chief, Financial Express 03-Jul-2009
Trustnet Alpha Manager Tim McCarron runs the Fidelity European fund. Here he explains his views on matters such as asset allocation and risk.

Charles Stanley Regular High Income: Government woes, currency risks could hit fund By Rob Mackinlay 15-May-2009
Charles Stanley Regular High Income is the only fund in the IMA Equity and Bond Income sector showing a positive return over one year.

Liquidity concerns hit money market sector By Stephanie Spicer,Trustnet Correspondent 03-Jun-2009
Liquidity and performance issues are dominating the insurance fund sector.

Global bonds follow fixed income to profits By Victoria Kelly,Trustnet Correspondent 17-Oct-2008
Most asset classes have fallen sharply over the last 12 months but global government bonds have offered an oasis amid the turmoil, in many cases providing double digit returns for investors.

Budget: Tax on foreign dividends scrapped from 1 July By Leonora Walters,Reporter 22-Apr-2009
All companies will be exempt from tax on foreign dividends from 1 July, it has been announced in today's budget, as part of a package of reforms on the taxation of foreign profits.

Look to emerging markets for financials says Sanlam By Jonathan Boyd,Editor-in-Chief 08-Apr-2009
Emerging markets are the way forward for investors in bank stocks globally, according to Sanlam's Global Financial fund manager Kokkie Kooyman.

Is the only way up? By Harpreet Sajjan,Analyst, Financial Express Research 12-May-2009
Global markets sustained growth to May produced the longest rally since the credit crunch began: is this likely to continue?

Green shoots to bear fruit? By Harpreet Sajjan,Analyst, Financial Express Research 23-Apr-2009
Research has shown that if one expects global markets to have a good month then those seeking to prosper over the short-term should certainly consider beta – which is a good measure of a fund’s cyclicality to any given benchmark.

Passive Aggressive By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 03-Jul-2009
This year is shaping up to be the "year of the tracker", if the level of activity in the passive fund sector continues unabated.

Close funds excel as UK Smaller Companies sector rallies By Sarah Beasley,Analyst, Financial Express Research 01-Jul-2009
Since the end of March this year the IMA UK Smaller Companies sector has risen 23.45 per cent, making it the best performing sector in the last three months.

Still no bottom to call but Ian Kernohan 'bullish' By Jonathan Boyd,Editor-in-Chief 27-Nov-2008
Consensus realisation that a UK recession could be as bad as feared may actually tee up investors to take a more level-headed look at current prices of assets in advance of any turnaround in the economy, and that may be a good thing, suggests Royal London Asset Management chief economist Ian Kernohan.

Three Crown rating for L&G UK Property Trust By Rob Gleeson,Analyst, Financial Express Research 21-Apr-2009
The L&G UK Property Trust has just been awarded a three Crown rating by Financial Express.

Three Crown rating for Trojan Capital fund By Harpreet Sajjan,Analyst, Financial Express Research 07-Apr-2009
Trojan Capital fund has been awarded a triple Crown Rating from Financial Express having clocked up an impressive three year history during which it has scored well on alpha, volatility and consistency.

What the Multi-managers are holding: BlackRock UK Absolute Return By Sarah Beasley,Analyst, Financial Express Research 04-Jun-2009
As one of the most popular and high profile Absolute Return funds, it should come as no surprise that the Blackrock UK Absolute Alpha fund is the most popular fund of its type in the portfolios of multi-manager funds. The fund currently features in the portfolios of 34 multi-manager funds.

FER Monthly Roundup: April 2009 By Sarah Beasley,Analyst, Financial Express Research 12-May-2009
As the market rally gained momentum we saw a stark contrast in the performance figures for funds in April against preceding months. Sectors that were previously among the worst performers are now heading the league tables. For example, the disastrous performance we have come to expect from sectors focused on smaller companies has been, temporarily at least, halted.

Transparency key as hedge funds go down UCITS III road By Barney Hatt,Reporter 07-May-2009
With an increasing number of hedge funds registering as mutual funds in the European Union to take advantage of UCITS III legislation, regulators are considering taking action to protect small investors.

Academics attack one size fits all EC regulations By Barney Hatt,Reporter 01-May-2009
A leading Berlin business school has attached the EC proposals to regulate hedge funds for failing to tackle risk and "tarring a number of different industries with the same regulatory brush".

Zeros and VCTs - a good way to mitigate income tax? By Leonora Walters,Reporter 11-May-2009
The new tax bracket rate of 50 per cent announced in the Budget for those earning over £150,000 also means more tax on income from sources such as equity income funds, but zero dividend preference shares and venture capital trusts are possible options to mititgate this.

Budget: EIC and VCTs get two years to invest their funds but no extension of tax relief By Leonora Walters,Reporter 22-Apr-2009
The Government is to make four legislative changes to the Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) following a consultation last year, including a relaxation of the timing rules for employing money raised from a share issue, a measure which will also be applied to the Venture Capital Trusts (VCT) and Corporate Venturing Schemes.

Report: IMA Sterling Strategic Bond By Harpreet Sajjan,Analyst, Financial Express Research 07-May-2009
The IMA Sterling Strategic Bond sector includes 65 funds with a remit to invest at least 80 per cent of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling) fixed interest securities.

Report: IMA Guaranteed/Protected By Harpreet Sajjan, Analyst, Financial Express Research 19-Mar-2009
This sector comprises 28 funds other than money market funds which principally aim to provide a return of a set amount of capital back to the investor (either explicitly guaranteed or via an investment strategy highly likely to achieve this objective) plus some market upside.