Diversified Funds

Nikko AM Balanced Fund

About the fund

This fund aims for a steady investment return over the medium to longer term without too many ups and downs. The fund does this by investing across a range asset classes with  exposure to shares for growth complemented by exposure to bonds and alternatives to reduce volatility.

Growth Fund Strategic Asset Allocation

Risk Indicator (volatility)

1
2
3
4 Medium to High
5
6
7

Target Asset Allocation

Growth 59.00%
Income 36.00%
Other 5.00%

Find out more about Diversified Funds from George Carter

George Carter is the former Managing Director of Nikko AM. In this video, he explains what an average day in his job looks like and how Diversified Funds work. George also talks us through the investment process and details the main reasons why you should consider a Diversified Fund for your next investment.

Commentary

As of 31 March 2024

Market Highlights

  • A second-straight strong quarter for global equity markets which rallied consistently from the selloff in in October 2023.
  • The economic data releases over the first 3 months of 2024 generally surprised to the upside, with the US economy remaining a standout.
  • Economic growth in Europe was not as strong as in the US, but did exceed muted expectations, and the UK entered a phase of expansion.
  • Information technology continued its leadership role from the final quarter of last year, with communications services not far behind.

The fund performance was strong in terms of absolute return and relative returns for the first quarter of 2024, with equities being the main driver of absolute returns. The Global Shares fund was the standout performer in absolute and benchmark relative terms over March (+5.8% unhedged), and over the quarter (+20.2% unhedged). Overweight positions in Nvidia, Meta and Netflix all added value, as did insurance names Palomar Holdings, Progressive Corp, and Ryan Speciality. Not owning Apple and Tesla also added to relative returns. Stock selection within industrials (Worley Ltd), and Consumer Discretionary (Sony and Amadeus IT) was a detractor. The Concentrated Equity fund delivered a strong return for the quarter, up 7.8%, well ahead of the NZ equity market. The largest positive contributors were positions in NextDC, Contact Energy and Ingenia Communities. NextDC was up 29.6% (in AUD) after announcing a good result but more importantly outlining a strong demand outlook driven by cloud and Artificial Intelligence data storage requirements. Both the NZ and global bond portfolios added value over both the month and the quarter. The ARK fund had a volatile start to 2024, but finished the quarter slightly up, while the Multi-strategy fund posted a strong return of 4.3% for the quarter, up 9.6% for the last 12 months.

Performance

Nikko AM Investment Scheme
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Performance

at 31 March 2024
One month Three months One year Three years (p.a) Five years (p.a)
Fund performance1 2.88% 6.40% 13.08% 1.43% 4.50%
Appropriate Market Index (AMI)2 2.79% 5.25% 12.26% 3.34% 6.18%
  1. Returns are before tax and after the deduction of fees and expenses and including tax credits (if any).
  2. AMI: Composite - refer to Nikko AM NZ Investment Scheme OMI.

5 year cumulative performance $10,000 invested

Top 10 Holdings

Security Name Percentage
JPM Multi Manager Alternatives X Acc NZD Hedged 4.83%
Microsoft Corp 2.20%
Infratil Limited 2.02%
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare 2.02%
Nvidia Corp 1.83%
Spark New Zealand Ltd 1.73%
Contact Energy Limited 1.68%
Facebook Inc Com Usd Cl A 1.29%
NZ Government 2.75% 15/04/2037 1.29%
NZ Government 150534 4.25 Gb 1.26%
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