Platinum's suite of funds struggled in February with the best, their International Technology Fund, limiting its losses to 2.1%. After that the next best funds were the International Brands Fund and International Fund which both lost 5.6%, through to their worst performer, the Unhedged Fund, which fell 8.6%.

The only Platinum Fund to have achieved a positive return for the last twelve months is the 4.8% generated by the Japan Fund, but increasingly difficult economic conditions in Japan saw the fund lose 7.9% in February.

Platinum is largley owned by staff and relies on joint ventures for distribution through companies such as MLC Investments in Australia and Optima Fund Management in New York.

The Elstree Enhanced Income Fund lost -8.24% in February, including a -2.5% loss on a further markdown on the unlisted AXA note currently owned by the Fund.

This result brings the Fund's 12 month return to -33.23%. The manager however was encouraged by signs that the underlying issuers of securities held by the Fund are taking steps to stabilise their balance sheets. This was done mainly by selling assets or raising equity, or both.

The Attunga Enviro Opportunities Fund was down -4.61% in February, down on its +11.12% return in January. Attunga’s Agricultural Trading Fund was also down on its January result, up +0.18% after gaining +4.98% last month.

Cooler weather, apart from one hot day in Victoria, kept electricity prices and volatility low during February, which was the main factor in the Enviro Opportunities Fund’s negative result. February also saw renewed interest in the proposed emissions trading scheme, with opposition parties in the Senate announcing an enquiry into the scheme a week after the Government’s enquiry was cancelled. The manager believes this regulatory uncertainty will create volatility, and therefore opportunity, in power markets throughout 2009.

The lack of significant fundamental news on agricultural markets in February drove the Agricultural Trading Fund’s flat result. Gains were made on cross commodity spreads on soft and hard wheat, as well as carry trades in canola and wheat. Mark to market losses were made on volatility spreads between canola, bean oil and corn.

The MM&E Capital Takeover Target Fund was up +0.28% in February, after posting a loss of -1.40% in January. This result came about while the S&P/ASX 200 lost -5.5% over the same period.

Discounted capital raisings, such as Suncorp-Metway, as well as adhering to stop loss limits helped drive the Fund to its positive result. Negative results came from holdings in Insurance Australia Group, Healthscope and Caltex.

The Austral Equity Fund recorded a small loss of -0.04% in February, following on from a +0.74% gain in January. Due to poor interim company reports and a lack of forward guidance, as well as often misleading disclosures regarding capital raisings, the Fund remained lightly invested.

During February the Fund held significant amounts in cash (69%) and short term investment grade corporate credit. More specifically, the Fund continued to hold Macquarie Airport Tickets, which fell later in the month, while the proceeds from its CBA Perls II will be received shortly.

Australia's financial regulator, ASIC has decided to extend their ban on the short selling of financial stocks for the third time, making it the only country (with the exception of Holland) to maintain a ban on covered short selling.

Citing ongoing market volatility, and potential aggressive and predatory practices by short sellers, ASIC acknowledged that it was prepared allow the market to forgo some price discovery and market efficiency.

ASIC advised that it had discussed the situation with regulators elsewhere, but their decision (although not unexpected) is at odds with the actions of regulators in the US, UK and Hong Kong, who have all lifted the bans, or in the case of Hong Kong, not implemented a ban in the first place.

At ASIC's summer school held earlier this week, representatives of all three offshore regulators indicated that their bans were either no longer necessary, or in the case of Hong Kong, never required.

ASIC also advised it was remaining vigilant to conduct which allowed the ban to be circumvented, presumably referring to the use of derivative and arbitrage strategies. However, as there are widespread exemptions to the ban for market makers and option strategies, this seems to be contradictory.

ASIC's current reporting regime for the reporting only of gross short sales also remains in place, leaving the market no better informed as to the real extent of short selling taking place, and therefore allowing rumour and inuendo to continue.

Australia's Reserve Bank has held rates steady at 3.25% following the board's monthly meeting today, as widely anticipated.  RBA Govenor Glenn Stevens noted that in spite of the global economic crisis, Australia's economy had not experienced the downturn seen elsewhere and that changes to monetary and fiscal policy had changed sufficiently "on the basis of currently available information".  The full text of the Govenor's statement follows:

"At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 3.25 per cent.

Recent data confirm that the world economy has remained very weak following the sharp decline in demand that occurred late last year. The major industrial economies reported large contractions in output in the December quarter, as did a number of emerging market economies across Asia and eastern Europe. Many countries are likely to be experiencing further falls in output in the current quarter.

Conditions in global credit markets have improved since November, but sentiment remains fragile. Share prices have weakened and banking systems in several major countries are still under pressure, as authorities work towards a resolution of the balance-sheet problems. Significant macroeconomic policy stimulus is being put in place around the world, but it is too soon to see the effects of those measures.

In Australia, demand has not weakened as much as in other countries and, on the basis of currently available information, the Australian economy has not experienced the sort of large contraction seen elsewhere. The Australian financial system remains strong and the monetary policy transmission process is working to deliver large reductions in interest rates to end borrowers. Nonetheless, economic conditions are clearly weak, and given the speed and scale of the global economic deterioration and its effect on confidence, weak conditions are likely to continue in the near term. Inflation is likely to decline over time.

In response to that outlook, there has already been a major change in both monetary and fiscal policy. Market and mortgage rates are at very low levels by historical standards and business loan rates are below recent averages, reducing debt-servicing burdens considerably. Together with the substantial fiscal initiatives, the cumulative decline in interest rates will provide significant support to domestic demand over the period ahead. On this basis, notwithstanding evident economic weakness at present, the Board judged that the stance of monetary policy was appropriate for the moment. The Board will consider the position again at its next meeting."

The Apostle Loomis Sayles Senior Loan Fund, which mainly invests in US senior loans, posted a return of +8.29% in January, a record for the Fund.

The manager attributed the excellent result to a rally in loan markets, which in previous months had been dragged down by forced selling from leveraged vehicles. This appeared to stop in January, allowing bargain hunters to buy up across all credit sectors. The manager also attributed the result to the generally high quality of loans that make up the Fund's portfolio, loans that will most likely survive challenging market conditions in 2009.

Looking ahead the manager expects prices to remain low, based on continuing poor economic news, although there will be an influx of new capital into the sector.

The Pengana Property Securities Fund was down -9.1% in January, after ending 2008 down -57.2%.

The Fund closely mirrored its benchmark, the S&P/ASX 300 Property Accumulation Index, which was down -9.6%. The Fund's portfolio remained positioned around larger, high quality business models with limited balance sheet risk, including CFS Retail, Westfield and Stockland. The Fund also began to take postions in regional property markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which present a lower risk profile. Cash holdings were increased to over 2% during the month, with the intention to further increase this position in future, due to the damaging affects of ongoing capital raisings on confidence.

With the Australian ban on covered short selling of financial stocks due to expire by Friday 6th March, speculation is mounting that it will be extended further with ongoing weakness and volatility giving the ban's proponents additional ammunition.

David Murray, former CEO of the Commonwealth Bank, and now heading up the government's Future Fund, has been reported as supporting an extension of the ban. At the same time the Dutch regulator, AFM, has extended their ban on the shorting of financials until June after ING and Aegon came under renewed pressure.

The hard facts are that financial stocks in Australia have not been shown to have been protected by the ban while it has been in place. This leads detractors of the ban to claim that the ban is a populist knee jerk reaction which is damaging price discovery, (otherwise known as letting the market dictate the value of a stock) liquidity and Australia's reputation as a serious financial centre.

At the same time they point out that as there are significant exclusions to the ban (market makers, derivatives etc) it is not being even handed. We expect the debate to increase over the next week, and, whatever the regulator's decision, to leave one side or the other decidedly unhappy.