Valletta Fund Management recently organised its quarterly sales seminar at the Radisson Blu Resort and Spa, Golden Sands, for authorised sales people who are licensed to promote and sell its range of investment funds.
The last quarter of 2011 saw gains in equities which still failed to prevent most major market loss for the year
VFM’s chief officer Peter Perotti opened the seminar by highlighting the main advantages of investing in a collective investment scheme, including diversification of the underlying investments, liquidity considerations, cost-efficiency and expertise of the fund manager.
Mr Perotti said: “In the light of the current market scenario it is imperative that a high level of cautiousness is applied and also that one’s portfolio should be diversified and managed by specialists who have the time, resources and expertise to run and actively manage large investment portfolios on behalf of investors.”
VFM head Mark Vella updated those present with a detailed review and outlook of the bond and equity market during the fourth quarter of 2011, saying that US and UK government bonds retained their safe haven status and gilts produced a total return of 15.6 per cent on the year.
He also explained how the market sentiment was dominated by the current European crisis and how Europe remained in the doldrums after a pedestrian final quarter to the year where continental European stock markets ended the year down 15 per cent with Japan, Asia and emerging markets equally dismal.
Speaking about equities, Mr Vella went on to say that the last quarter of 2011 had seen gains in equities which still failed to prevent most major market loss for the year.
This rally was influenced by the investors regaining their risk appetite in October after a heavy selling in quarter three. Another attribute that supported equities was the high expectation for the December 2011 EU summit and the better-than-expected US economic data in the final month of the year including employment and manufacturing data, and some good corporate earnings.
The outlook for equity markets was unfortunately becoming ever more dependant on influences which were not governed by economic or company fundamentals and that the most pressing concern was the viability of the euro, he said.
David Pace Ross, from Bank of Valletta, shared the main highlights of the various companies listed on the Malta Stock Exchange and provided the audience with an outlook of the prospective corporate strategies.