Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

10 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Morphic Global Opportunities Fund returned -2.63% for March, slightly above the benchmark ACWI Index (in $A), with annual returns at 27.63%.

Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

9 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned 0.04% in March with an annual return of 3.30% and standard deviation of 1.89%.

9 Apr 2014 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	08 April 2014
Manager	Optimal Fund Management Australia
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	March 2014
Latest Return	0.04%
Latest 6 Months	2.02%
Latest 12 Months	3.30%
Latest 24 Months	4.71%
Annualised Since Inception	10.23%
Inception Date	15 September 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$120
Fund Overview	The investment objective of the Fund is to seek to achieve above average returns in absolute terms, through investing in listed securities in Australia and New Zealand, subject to the overarching requirement of capital preservation. Investments will predominantly be in equity securities but may include fixed interest instruments, money market instruments, derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. The Fund's bias is likely to be net long under normal market conditions, with the core strategy being to construct a portfolio of listed equity securities priced at levels that do not adequately reflect their underlying value. The Fund will seek to boost returns and limit potential market downside by selective short selling of individual stocks which are priced at levels that are viewed as materially above their underlying value. The Fund will also use certain trading strategies both within its core portfolio (through rebalancing stock weights and overall market exposure in response to price movements) and in certain other situations (typically of a shorter-duration and/or opportunistic nature) with the objective of further increasing returns.
Manager Comments	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned 0.04% in March with an annual return of 3.30% and a very low standard deviation of 1.89% (ASX 200 Acc 11.03%). The Fund's largest draw-down was -0.52% (Index -6.72%) in line with it's overarching focus on capital protection. The Manager Monthly report comments 'The S&P/ASX200 index finished the March quarter up 0.8% the Australian market's worst start to the calendar year since 2010. March's performance is largely at odds with some of the acclaim greeting the February reporting season(characterized as the 'best in five years'), suggesting that investors are not entirely convinced. Earnings have been re-rated about as far as they can be as a result of interest rate suppression and liquidity creation. Early-stage normalisation of the term end of the yield curve is occurring. For equity prices to advance further, growth has to step up, and the signs on that remain mixed at best.'
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BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund

8 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund returned -0.29% in February and 6.55% for the previous twelve months with a volatility of 2.50% (11.49 % ASX 200 Acc Index).

8 Apr 2014 - BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	07 April 2014
Manager	BlackRock Asset Management Australia Limited
Fund Name	BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
Strategy	Multi Strategy
Latest Return Date	February 2014
Latest Return	-0.29%
Latest 6 Months	3.59%
Latest 12 Months	6.55%
Latest 24 Months	17.26%
Annualised Since Inception	8.67%
Inception Date	30 July 2004
FUM (millions)	AU$927
Fund Overview	The BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund (the Fund) is a multi-strategy fund that seeks to benefit from BlackRock's ability to systematically exploit inefficiencies across a broad range of global investment markets. The Fund harnesses BlackRock's best research ideas that are based on sound economic principles which are implemented via a systematic investment process and combined into one investment vehicle. The Fund gains exposure to a diversified group of absolute return strategies which currently include: - Australian and International Equity Long/Short - Global Fixed Income Long/Short - Global Macro - Commodity Alpha - Alpha Transport The Fund's goal is to provide investors with a source of consistent, risk-controlled, absolute returns that are over time, expected to have low correlations with the returns of major asset classes. The Fund aims to achieve a return of 8% p.a. before fees, above the RBA Cash Rate Target over rolling 3 year periods. In order to achieve its expected return objective, the Fund will target a total expected risk of between 4-6% p.a. over the same rolling 3 year period.
Manager Comments	BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund returned -0.29% in February and 6.55% for the previous twelve months with a volatility of 2.50% (11.49 % ASX 200 Acc Index). The Fund's largest draw-down was -0.45%, indicative of the multi-asset strategy, with the Index -6.72%. The Fund Update comments 'Strong positive contributions from Fixed Income Global Alpha, European Equity Long/Short and Australian Equity Long/Short were offset by detractions from the Global Macro, Global Equity Long/Short and International Alpha Transport strategies. The Australian Equity Long/Short strategy added value in February benefitting from stock selection in the gold sector and a takeover bid in the oil stock Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd (AUT). The underweight exposure in mining services was again a positive contributor. Stock selection in infrastructure, consumer cyclicals and insurance detracted.'
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Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

8 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund recorded a reasonable return in a flat market delivering 0.87% with the annual return 9.67%.

8 Apr 2014 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	07 April 2014
Manager	Kardinia Capital, a Bennelong Funds Management boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	March 2014
Latest Return	0.87%
Latest 6 Months	4.89%
Latest 12 Months	9.67%
Latest 24 Months	25.46%
Annualised Since Inception	13.82%
Inception Date	01 May 2006
FUM (millions)	AU$135.8
Fund Overview	The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund is an Australian domiciled equity long/short fund investing in ASX listed securities. The Fund uses some exchange traded call options and there is limited use of SPI futures contracts to hedge overall market risk. The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 20 to 50 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks in the long side of the portfolio, although in a rising market the portfolio will tend to hold smaller caps, including resource stocks, more frequently. On the short side, the portfolio is particularly concentrated, with stock selection limited by both liquidity and the difficulty of borrowing stock in smaller cap companies. Short positions are only taken when there is a high conviction view on the specific stock. The Fund uses derivatives in a limited way, mainly selling short dated covered call options to generate additional income. These typically have less than 30 days to expiry, and are usually 5% to 10% out of the money. ASX SPI futures and index put options can be used to hedge the portfolio's overall net position.
Manager Comments	Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund recorded a reasonable return in a flat market delivering 0.87% with the annual return 9.67%. The Fund also had a very low volatility over the last twelve months at 4.10% as compared to 11.03% for the Index. Month-end market exposure increased to 48% (81.1% long and 33% short). The Manager's update notes that Long positions in Donaco and the major banks, and a short position in Metcash were the largest positive contributors to performance, whilst long positions in Crown, CSL and Twenty-First Century Fox were the largest detractors.
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Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

7 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for the Morphic Global Opportunities Fund for February 2014 has been released. The fund returned -0.71% during the month for an annual return to 32.37%.

Monash Absolute Investment Fund

4 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Monash Absolute Investment Fund returned a solid 4.6% during March (Index 0.20%) and 27.72% (Index 12.0%) over the last twelve months.

Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund February 2014

2 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for Insync Global Titans Fund for February 2014 shows the Fund delivering an annualised return of 11.33% and annualised standard deviation of 7.59% (since inception in October 2009) with sound risk-reward statistics.

Pengana Australian Equities Fund

1 Apr 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Pengana Australian Equities Fund recorded a 1.44% return during February 2014 and 7.30% for the preceding 12 months with a volatility of 6.41%.

Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust February 2014

31 Mar 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust for February 2014 has been released. The fund is characterised by very low risk with an annualised standard deviation 3.55% (Index 15.07%)and a Sharpe Ratio since inception of 1.76.

CSAG Long Only Program

31 Mar 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

CSAG Long Only Program had a sound month with a return of 2.65%, assisted by stronger soft commodity prices, with a -4.97% twelve month return.

31 Mar 2014 - CSAG Long Only Program

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	28 March 2014
Manager	Commodity Strategies AG
Fund Name	CSAG Long Only Program
Strategy	Commodities/CTA
Latest Return Date	February 2014
Latest Return	2.65%
Latest 6 Months	-3.86%
Latest 12 Months	-4.97%
Latest 24 Months	-10.44%
Annualised Since Inception	7.19%
Inception Date	30 November 1999
FUM (millions)	US$77
Fund Overview	The CSAG Long Only programme seeks to achieve a long term total return that exceeds the return of the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Total Return Index with lower volatility. The Dow Jones-AIG and the GSCI are also monitored. The fund is unleveraged and operates in deeply liquid global commodity markets using systematic processes that enable it to be long in any individual market or allocated to cash, depending on the prevailing yields. The portfolio systems manage positions in trending or mean-reverting markets, with a core emphasis on risk management and capital preservation across every aspect of the process.
Manager Comments	CSAG Long Only Program had a sound month with a return of 2.65%, assisted by stronger soft commodity prices, with a -4.97% twelve month return. The Manager's monthly comments notes that 'The portfolio started the month with modest exposure of about 30% and this was increased rapidly around mid-month finishing at about 90%. Energy constituted the biggest exposure at month end but exposures to Softs and Grains were also significantly increased. Major contributors to performance were coffee, soybeans zinc and gasoline whilst heating and gas oil posted the largest losses in the portfolio for the month. Coffee was up 41.7% for the month, bringing its YTD to 60.3%. February also saw gains posted by corn (5.4%), cotton (0.9%), Chicago wheat (8.4%) and Kansas wheat (11.1%). Soybeans and sugar also posted gains of 11%. Concerns over cold weather and the political unrest in Ukraine, one of the world's biggest exporters of corn and wheat, helped push prices of these grains up in February. The El Niño weather pattern, which can cause droughts and flooding in various parts of the world, is expected to return in 2014'
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Fund Monitors Pty Ltd

News

10 Apr 2014 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

9 Apr 2014 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

8 Apr 2014 - BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund

8 Apr 2014 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

7 Apr 2014 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

4 Apr 2014 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund

2 Apr 2014 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund February 2014

1 Apr 2014 - Pengana Australian Equities Fund

31 Mar 2014 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust February 2014

31 Mar 2014 - CSAG Long Only Program

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