Emerging markets and Asia investment trusts were the biggest risers on Friday as investors assessed the dramatic sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks on Thursday.
India trusts were prominent on the leader board as a 1% drop in the pound and a 2% sterling rise in India’s Nifty 50 index saw Aberdeen New India (ANII) rally 5.3% to close on a discount of just over 10% to net asset value.
JPMorgan India Growth & Income (JIGI) added 2.7% and 3.2% to take their weekly gain to 6% and 5%. India Capital Growth (IGC) rose 1.2%, up 2.9% on the week. Their shares ended the week on discounts of 8.5%, 3.5% and 9.5% respectively.
Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEML) rose 4.6% on Friday but fell 4% over the week, reflecting its two-thirds position in in IT stocks. Similarly, Fidelity Asian Values (FAS) put on on 3.7% on the day but shed 1.4% over the five days. Templeton Emerging Markets (TEM) rose 1.7% on Friday but fell 2% over the week. BlackRock Latin American (BRLA) gained 2.7% and was unchanged since Monday.
Japan trusts fell a further 1-1.5% after the Nikkei 225’s 6% slump on Thursday. JPMorgan Japanese (JFJ) closed the week down 3.3%, Schroder Japan (SJG) was off 5% and AVI Japan Opportunities (AJOT) and CC Japan Income and Growth (CCJI) shed 2.3% and 3.9% last week. This left their discounts between 4.6% and 8%.
Global growth and technology trusts clawed back some of their losses from Thursday as the Nasdaq Composite index rose 1% after sliding 5.5% on Thursday.
Helped by the announcement of strong half-year results, Scottish Mortgage (SMT) gained 2.5% to limit its weekly fall to 1.6%. Baillie Gifford stablemates Schiehallion (MNTN) and Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) recouped 1.4% and 1.2%, although the latter fell 5.6% over the five days. Manchester & London (MNL) firmed 1.8% but tumbled 11.5% over the week.
Private equity trusts ended the week on a down note, particularly HgCapital (HGT) which slid 3.8%. This offset the impact earlier in the week of a joint venture with AI lab Anthropic and signs of a third quarter recovery after its mauling in February’s “SaaSpocalypse” on fears of AI disruption. This left its shares trailing on a near 30% discount.
3i Group (III), Oakley Capital Investments (OCI), ICG Enterprise (ICGT), Pantheon International (PIN) and CT Private Equity (CTPE) softened 1.9% to 1.3% on a combination of AI concerns and the prospect of two more interest rate rises after the Bank of England hiked base rate to 4% on Thursday.
Mining fund Baker Steel Resources (BSRT) fell 3.9% and Barings Emerging EMEA Opportunities (BEMO) stood out from its peers with a 3% fall on a 13.5% discount.
With the UK stock market down around 1%, Gresham House’s smaller companies trust Strategic Equity Capital (SEC) shed 2.6% and North Atlantic Smaller Companies (SEC) 2.4% on Friday.
STS Global Income (STS) and Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT) slipped 1.6% and 1.7% but the quality growth trusts did better over the week, with the latter up 2.7%.
On our Friday “In the Hot Seat” show, Andrew McHattie highlighted both STS and FGT as potential beneficiaries of a rotation from tech stocks after their strong gains in October.
