October 2017 PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE (%)

Highlights

• Shinzo Abe won the Japan election with a landslide causing investors to breathe a sigh of relief as status quo has been maintained. Abenomics which brought about a 140% gain in the japan equity market since December 2012 is expected to continue. This cause the Nikkei 225 index to rally 8% for the month.
• As Xi Jinping consolidate power at their party’s congress in October, we believe that Xi, the global trade advocator, has created a further optimism of increasing global trade and economic growth within the regional. China, as well as Asian equity markets, should benefit from this political background and future economic tailwind.
• ECB announced plans to cut the level of bond purchases by half from €60bn to €30bn per month and decided to extend the QE program through the end of 2018. Markets didn’t react negatively to the news as this wasn’t seen as a “tapering” but rather a recalibration of ECB QE programme. The dovish tone from Mario Draghi also kept European equity markets up.

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