Fundsupermart.com (FSM) held its annual Recommended Unit Trusts Awards to honour the unit trusts which have made it to FSM’s Recommended Unit Trusts list for the 2015/16 period. This year, 31 unit trusts from 12 fund houses including RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd, Eastspring Investments Berhad, AmInvestment Services Berhad, Affin Hwang Asset Management Berhad and CIMB-Principal Asset Management Berhad.
Caption: from left to right: Mr. Wong Weiyi ( 黄 伟义 ), Mr. Teng Chee Wai ( 邓智伟 ), Elyzza Syazreen binti Zailan, Mr. Dennis Tan ( 陈奕冠 ), Datin Maznah Mahbob, Mr. Chen Fan Fai ( 曾繁 辉 ), Encik Nazaruddin Othman, Pn. Sheila Halim, Dr. Tan Chong Koay ( 陈俊贵 博士 ), Mr. Hoe Cheah How ( 何家豪 ), Mr. Michael Tan ( 陈培錦 ), Mr. Wong Mien ( 王敏 ), Ms Lee Sook Yee ( 李淑 仪 ), Mr. Lee Chee Ming ( 李志明 ), Mr. Raymond Yeung ( 容志光 )
The unit trusts are evaluated based on Performance, Risk and Expense Ratio. “These areas are what we believe a good unit trust should excel in. Only unit trusts with exemplary track records in these areas make it to our Recommended Unit Trusts list,” said Wong Weiyi, General Manager of Fundsupermart Malaysia.
Presenting on FSM’s outlook for the remainder of 2015, Weiyi shared, “We continue to favour Asia ex-Japan and Global Emerging Markets due to their attractive valuations.” He added that Asian equities remain undervalued at this juncture, and he believes that a recovery in the earnings revisions cycle for Asia ex-Japan equities will be a key catalyst for Asian equity valuations to mean-revert higher. MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index was trading at 12.9X Price/Earnings multiple as of 15 June 2015 based on a fair 14.5X Price/Earnings multiple. He foresees that the region has an upside potential of more than 45% by end-2017.
On the other hand, MSCI Emerging Markets Index was trading at 12.6X Price/Earnings multiple as of 15 June 2015 based on a fair 13.5X Price/Earnings multiple. The decent earnings growth reinforces his view on the region’s potential upside which is similar to that of Asia ex-Japan, more than 45% by end-2017. That being said, Weiyi advocates that investors should have an allocation to developed markets for portfolio diversification purposes. He added, “Despite the lower upside potential for US and Europe, we still expect both markets to deliver fairly reasonable returns for investors, with the expectation that 2015 should be another year of positive earnings growth for developed market companies.”
Caption : Encik Nazaruddin Othman, Chief Executive Officer of Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM), giving an opening speech at Fundsupermart’s Recommended Unit Trusts Awards and Press Conference 2015.
As for single country markets, FSM favours China which is accorded a 5-star “Very Attractive” rating. “China, which is a large part of Emerging Markets, Asia ex-Japan and BRIC strategies, sports some of the strongest potential upside amongst all markets under our coverage, owing to the market’s very undemanding valuations at this juncture,” said Weiyi. Hang Seng Mainland 100 index was trading at 11.4X price/Earnings multiple as of 15 June 2015 based on a fair 13.0X Price/Earnings multiple. Other 5-star single-country market FSM favours is Hong Kong.
Caption : Mr Wong Weiyi, General Manager of Fundsupermart Malaysia, giving his presentation at Fundsupermart’s Recommended Unit Trusts Awards and Press Conference 2015.
As for the bond market, Weiyi advocated fixed income as an integral and relevant part of an investor’s portfolio. However, he suggested that investors be selective on the segments that they choose to invest in. Weiyi shared, “We continue to favour shorter duration bond funds and high-yield bond funds which are less interest rate sensitive.” He added that high-yield bonds now sport a fairly attractive spread over similar maturity Treasuries and Asian high-yield bonds still offer some of the highest potential returns in fixed income today, albeit with higher credit risk.
Luminaries in the event include Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM), Encik Nazaruddin Othman who presented the opening speech as well as the representatives from the award winning fund houses.
About Fundsupermart.com
Fundsupermart.com Malaysia (FSM) is the online unit trust distribution arm of iFAST Capital Sdn. Bhd.
iFAST Capital is a holder of a Capital Markets Services Licence (CMSL) and is licensed by the Securities Commission to deal in unit trusts, to offer investment advisory services and to deal in Private Retirement Scheme. It is also registered with the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FiMM) as an Institutional Unit Trust Adviser (IUTA).
On a broader organisational level, iFAST Capital Sdn. Bhd. is a subsidiary of iFAST Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., which is wholly owned by iFAST Corporation Ltd. ("iFAST Corporation"), Singapore’s leading online distributor of unit trusts as well as the leading operator of an investment platform for financial advisers and financial institutions. iFAST Corporation Ltd. was listed on the Singapore Exchange Mainboard in December 2014.
FSM was first established in Malaysia in 2007 as an online platform for buying, selling and switching unit trusts from various fund houses. It serves as an aggregator of unit trust products, facilitating portfolio management in one account.
As a unit trust specialist, FSM capitalises on critical information pooled from associated fund houses, providing an extensive range of information on global markets. In addition, FSM has an in-house research team performing independent research on unit trust investments, and a content team conducting regular interviews with fund experts. As part of its service to investors, FSM features a versatile selection of online tools to aid unit trust portfolios analysis.
Every year, FSM organises two flagship events, “What and Where to Invest” in January and “Recommended Unit Trusts” in July. These seminars gather speakers from the unit trusts industry to share insights on their picks and the pertinent risks for investors to be wary of when investing.
FSM launched its FSM Mobile app for iPhone in June 2011 and Android in June 2012. The app features new exclusive functions for users to keep abreast of market and fund news, and allows users to do their own analyses on-the-go based on features such as Portfolio Simulator and Fundsupermart Indices (FSMI) among others.
Moving forward, FSM is working towards acquiring a larger variety of unit trusts under its platform and expanding the online unit trust industry, bringing the benefits of online unit trusts to more investors in Malaysia.
For more info http://www.fundsupermart.com.my/main/home/index.svdo