AR Capital Management's Ascot Fund produced a modest gain of +0.21% in March, significantly underperforming the market which bounced +7.1%.
The Fund has been defensively positioned for several months, and although this has resulted in the Fund outperforming the market by almost 30% since June 2008, it was this caution that caused the Fund to miss out on March's equity market rally. The Fund has gradually been increasing its exposure, currently sitting at approximately 60% with a net long bias, reflecting the manager's increased degree of comfort in investing in the market, even though the short selling ban on financials is still in place.
The main drivers of March's result were positive contributions from Woodside Petroleum, Macquarie Communications Group and Worley Parsons (all long) among others. Small negative returns in Rio Tinto, David Jones, Nufarm and Woolworths offset these gains.
