Opinion

Generalising is a dark art. The moment one observes an apparent pattern, idiosyncratic data jumps out. Judging small-cap managers falls into this trap. Firstly, to the organisation. Those that are entirely dedicated to this sector can do well, yet are interspersed are some big shops with banal marketing that challenge this assumption. Boutique is not…

Despite being Australia’s most important trading partner and closest neighbour, Asia remains largely undiscovered and under-appreciated by Australian investors. The region now represents 60 per cent of the global population, has 50 per cent of all consumers and contributes 70 per cent to GDP growth. The immediate Asian growth trend is expected to accelerate as…

The launch early in February this year of Australia’s first unlisted fund to be quoted on the ASX, by Magellan group and its administrator, Mainstream, took a while to sink in, not helped by the dislocation caused by the pandemic crisis. But, as Australia at least, is preparing to get back to business at some…

There is a US$550 billion ($764 billion) market that is rarely considered by Australian investors. Convertible bonds (CBs) are barely used locally, while in the US and Europe these are a key component of a growing company’s capital and pension fund portfolios. To appreciate this market, we must consider why CBs make sense for an…

For obvious reasons, everyone is focused now on the pandemic, the mitigation policies being put in place to control it and the huge monetary, fiscal and medical implications. But there are other external factors worth discussing for the impact they could have on the world’s major economies. The first one is inventory levels. Over the…

It seems as if Japan does not get a lot of respect from external investors, for good reasons. The Nikkei index appears to disprove the theory that the sharemarket delivers superior long-term investment returns, being at the same level now that it was back in 1991. Almost 31 years on from its record high, the…

In the middle of 2015, Morgan Stanley Research in Australia published a report which predicted that managed accounts would prove to be a major disruptor of traditional investing via managed funds/unit trusts. The report, ‘Evolution or Revolution?’, seemed overly bullish on the new way for individual investors and their advisers to access professional investment management….

Although the economic shutdown in Melbourne has put a dampener on property transactions, the world continues outside Victoria, with several major transactions as we pass through September. Specialist property fund manager Castlerock has added another key regional property to its Auslink Property Trust (No.2), spending more than $55 million to acquire the property at 45…

A clear correlation has emerged between risk appetite during the COVID-19 pandemic and the age of investors, with Australian ‘millennials’ – the cohort aged 24-39 – among the most proactive globally, according to a survey of 1,800 people in six countries. Australian investors of all ages are also among the most bullish globally. The survey…

While one can fret about the relative performance of equity and fixed income funds, the frustration with those that have underperformed is directed at their evident style bias.

Navigating their way through a pandemic both personally and on behalf of clients, has served to further increase the burden on an already stretched financial advice industry. It’s hard to blame the thousands of advisers choosing to exit and seek careers elsewhere when you combine the increasing compliance requirements and nuances of the Royal Commission…

The penetration of e-commerce in China remains below 20%, but is the fastest growing and largest market of its kind in the world. This paper looks at those companies winning the battle for clicks across the Asian region.