It has displayed sporadic bouts of brilliance. In 2003 and 2007, it returned a whopping 139 per cent and 63 per cent, against the category average of 110 per cent and 57per cent, respectively. Last year, it delivered a whopping 104.70 per cent, beating its category by an impressive margin of 24 per cent.
It has also duly impressed during market downturns. In 2008, it shed 51 per cent (category lost 53 per cent).
And what's noteworthy is that it managed to contain its losses without resorting to defensives nor did it go heavy on debt and cash.
Broadly, energy and financial sectors have been its all-time favourites. And since 2005, both have been in the top sectors of the fund.
Although recently, the fund has brought down its allocation in the energy sector from around 21 per cent in September 2008 to around 11 per cent in December 2009, but it is still among the top sectors of the fund. Allocation to financial services is around 23 per cent currently.
Fund manager J Mark Mobius maintains a concentrated portfolio of around 28 stocks with highest being at 30 stocks and the top-five holdings accounting for around 35 per cent of the portfolio.
With a strategy to invest in undervalued companies and a bottom-up approach, the fund manger is not hesitant of going into lower-cap stocks (but the allocation to small cap has never exceeded 25 per cent). The fund is holding around half of its portfolio in large-cap stocks The fund has proved beneficial for long-term investors. Over the threeyear period ending December 31, 2009, its annualised return of 18 per cent is around 8 per cent ahead of its category average.
