Investment trusts are “making a comeback” according to Interactive Investor.
The UK’s second-largest investment platform for private investors said both investment trusts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) “witnessed a robust upswing over the past two months”.
Interactive Investor deputy collectives editor Sam Benstead also said that physical property, renewable energy infrastructure, cryptocurrency, technology, biotech, and smaller company funds have also performed well since the start of November.
Benstead added that 70 funds, ETFs and investment trusts are up by more than 20% according to data from FE Analytics from 1 November to 4 January 2024.
The top performing investment trusts sectors during this period include property securities (up 27% on average), growth capital (up 20%), North American smaller companies (up 19.5%), European smaller companies (up 16%), and biotechnology and healthcare (up 13.5%).
For open-ended fund sectors, technology and technology innovation, North American smaller companies and healthcare came out top.
Benstead explained: “The market rally, linked to central bank messaging, gained momentum as US Federal Reserve signalled in December that US interest rates could be cut three times in 2024, marking the end of interest rate hikes. Notably, markets anticipated this shift, rallying even before the signal from the US central bank.
“These projections stem from a notable decline in inflation rates, with annual price increases registering at just 3.9% in the UK and 3.1% in the US for November 2023.
“This shift in trader sentiment highlights the market’s response to evolving economic indicators.”
In July 2023, Bellevue Asset Management director and portfolio manager Paul Major told Money Marketing, independent financial advisers are critical for accessing retail investors.
Major runs both the Bellevue Healthcare Trust and the WS Bellevue Healthcare Fund.
The Bellevue Healthcare Trust is an investment trust and the WS Bellevue Healthcare Fund is an undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) fund.
He added: “IFAs like Bellevue Healthcare Trust as it offers exposure to a concentrated set of stocks with visible, high quality, growth, spread across the entire healthcare spectrum.”
Major “regularly” pitches to IFAs and wishes to continue to do this in the future.
Still, Major wants “to explore the IFA community” even further as they play an “important” role in helping to promote and attract investors to Bellevue’s funds.
