Four Asia-focused investment trusts to keep an eye on

Funds that specialise in Asian companies have yet to price in the full short-term effects of the coronavirus

Many Vietnam funds have fallen by as much as 5%
(Image credit: OldCatPhoto)

For all the doom and gloom over the coronavirus, mortality rates are low. And in the next few weeks we should hit the peak infection rate and the public health experts will then start to get a handle on it. The bad news, however, is that in my opinion the effect on the economy of China and Asia has been hugely underestimated – and the share prices of regional funds have yet to factor this in.

Many analysts have downgraded their forecasts for Chinese growth to reflect the shock from the outbreak. Barclays has cut its 2020 GDP growth estimate by 0.4% to 5.4%; for the first quarter it expects growth of 4% year-on-year, a 1.8% reduction from its previous estimate. It also thinks that the outbreak “poses significant risks to growth” in emerging Asian countries, “with Thailand and Singapore among the most vulnerable”.

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David C. Stevenson
Contributor

David Stevenson has been writing the Financial Times Adventurous Investor column for nearly 15 years and is also a regular columnist for Citywire. He writes his own widely read Adventurous Investor SubStack newsletter at davidstevenson.substack.com

David has also had a successful career as a media entrepreneur setting up the big European fintech news and event outfit www.altfi.com as well as www.etfstream.com in the asset management space. 

Before that, he was a founding partner in the Rocket Science Group, a successful corporate comms business. 

David has also written a number of books on investing, funds, ETFs, and stock picking and is currently a non-executive director on a number of stockmarket-listed funds including Gresham House Energy Storage and the Aurora Investment Trust. 

In what remains of his spare time he is a presiding justice on the Southampton magistrates bench.