Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Average active fund returns of 3.91% fail to beat the iShares MSCI EM ETF return of 4.39%, with 54% of funds underperforming.</li>
<li>Consensus overweights in Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia proved costly, though Materials underweights, Saudi underweights and strong stock selection in South Korea stemmed relative losses.</li>
<li>Tencent and TSMC underweights costly: Both stocks are among the top underweights among active GEM investors. Strong performance this quarter contributed to underperformance.</li>
</ul>


Average active fund returns of 3.91% fail to beat the iShares MSCI EM ETF return of 4.39%, with 54% of funds underperforming.
Consensus overweights in Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia proved costly, though Materials underweights, Saudi underweights and strong stock selection in South Korea stemmed relative losses.
Tencent and TSMC underweights costly: Both stocks are among the top underweights among active GEM investors. Strong performance this quarter contributed to underperformance.


Active GEM Fund Q2 Performance Update.  Mexico & Indonesia Overweights Cost Investors

<ul>
<li>Average active fund returns of 6.75% match the iShares Asia Ex-Japan benchmark, with 50.8% of funds outperforming.</li>
<li>Technology Sector Again Drives Returns: Taiwan Technology contributes the most to absolute returns, aided by China &amp; HK and India positions.</li>
<li>Key Stock Overweights Pay Off: Overweights in SK Hynix, Tencent Holdings and HDFC Bank helped offset the drag from Cash holdings over the quarter.</li>
</ul>


Average active fund returns of 6.75% match the iShares Asia Ex-Japan benchmark, with 50.8% of funds outperforming.
Technology Sector Again Drives Returns: Taiwan Technology contributes the most to absolute returns, aided by China &amp; HK and India positions.
Key Stock Overweights Pay Off: Overweights in SK Hynix, Tencent Holdings and HDFC Bank helped offset the drag from Cash holdings over the quarter.


Active Asia Ex-Japan Q2 Performance Review:  Taiwan Tech Drives Returns, but Indonesia Costly

<ul>
<li>68.2% of global equity funds are positioned ahead of the benchmark in France, with an average overweight of 2%, making it the second largest country overweight after the UK.</li>
<li>France is currently the second largest country overweight after the UK, effectively offsetting some of the underweights in the USA, China &amp; Hong Kong, and Australia.</li>
<li>Overweights driven by by Schneider Electric, L'Oreal, and LVMH, whilst Pernod Ricard and Sanofi see investor outflows.</li>
</ul>


68.2% of global equity funds are positioned ahead of the benchmark in France, with an average overweight of 2%, making it the second largest country overweight after the UK.
France is currently the second largest country overweight after the UK, effectively offsetting some of the underweights in the USA, China &amp; Hong Kong, and Australia.
Overweights driven by by Schneider Electric, L'Oreal, and LVMH, whilst Pernod Ricard and Sanofi see investor outflows.


France:  Global Funds Overweight Ahead of Snap Election

<ul>
<li>Global equity funds are heavily overweight in UK stock heading in to the election on July 4th.</li>
<li>Compared to the SPDRs MSCI ACWI ETF benchmark, UK allocations are at a record overweight of +2.64%, with 69% of investors positioned ahead of the benchmark.</li>
<li>All sectors in the UK are held net overweight, led by Industrials and Consumer Staples. Key stocks like AstraZeneca, Linde, and Unilever are among the most widely held.</li>
</ul>


Global equity funds are heavily overweight in UK stock heading in to the election on July 4th.
Compared to the SPDRs MSCI ACWI ETF benchmark, UK allocations are at a record overweight of +2.64%, with 69% of investors positioned ahead of the benchmark.
All sectors in the UK are held net overweight, led by Industrials and Consumer Staples. Key stocks like AstraZeneca, Linde, and Unilever are among the most widely held.


United Kingdom:  Record Overweights in Run Up to Election

<ul>
<li>The average Indian allocation among active GEM funds broke through the 15% barrier at the start of 2024, despite an increasing underweight versus the benchmark index.</li>
<li>Valuation-Driven Underweight: The average weight versus the iShares MSCI EM ETF hit record underweights of -2.44%, with only 27.6% of funds positioned overweight. EM Value funds hit record -8.7% underweight.</li>
<li>HDFC Bank is the most widely held stock, owned by 60.5% of funds, while a majority of Indian names, such as Reliance Industries, are underweighted by active GEM funds.</li>
</ul>


The average Indian allocation among active GEM funds broke through the 15% barrier at the start of 2024, despite an increasing underweight versus the benchmark index.
Valuation-Driven Underweight: The average weight versus the iShares MSCI EM ETF hit record underweights of -2.44%, with only 27.6% of funds positioned overweight. EM Value funds hit record -8.7% underweight.
HDFC Bank is the most widely held stock, owned by 60.5% of funds, while a majority of Indian names, such as Reliance Industries, are underweighted by active GEM funds.


India:  Record Exposure Gives Rise to Caution

Steven Holden is the CEO and Founder of Copley Fund Research, an independent provider of research on equity fund positioning and performance.  Set up in 2014, Copley focuses on global, global emerging market, US, Asia Ex-Japan and China active equity funds, covering over $4tr in assets across 1300 active managers.  The company provides data and analysis on market trends, manager exposures and active fund performance to an audience of investment managers, pension funds and fund selectors worldwide.  Mr Holden’s 14-year investment banking career started in 2000, where he worked for Morgan Stanley as an equity derivative trader focused on emerging markets in London.  Following this, he spent 4 years at Citibank in London and Hong Kong as an Executive Director in derivative sales, focused again on emerging markets.