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An artificial reality?

”‹Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) is the largest and on of the most easily tradeable investment companies in the AIC’s Asia ex Japan sector. The fund manager aims to buy high-quality companies at attractive valuations – an approach that has been applied consistently for many years. The manager believes that the policies of central banks and governments have created an artificial environment where market valuations are no longer based on reality and that EFM’s performance, relative to market indices, has suffered as a result. They believe however that this situation is transient and, as things return to normal, EFM’s portfolio will benefit and its performance will see a return to form.

Over the past few months market volatility has picked up but so has government intervention in financial markets. For example, Japan has adopted a negative interest rate policy and China has been buying equities to shore up its stock market. Many commentators are questioning the long-term effectiveness of these measures. EFM suggests the best hope for benefiting from a normalisation of markets is investing in companies that will prosper in such a situation.