US Economy and Stock Market Health - A Trend Analysis

Unit trust investors, especially those whom have a significant amount invested in the long run, should always be on a lookout for potential signs/indications of what may look like an impending market crash. Over the countless blog post which I have shared, I have always advised mid and long term Unit Trust investors to be always be on the look out for key market and economic indicators that may significantly impact your portfolio. 

It is always good to keep track of indicators of the global equity market (represented by the United States) as well as the indicators of individuals countries that your unit trust fund that may have exposure to. Therefore in this post, I will be sharing some trend analysis of the world biggest equity market (US) based on the data that I have accumulated. 

Background

Over the past two years, I have been monitoring key indicators of the world biggest economy (United States) in order to detect any trends that may indicate a potential recession. There are 3 key components consisting of 9 indicators which I believe will impact the condition of the world largest stock market (Bear or Bull). The 9 indicators are as per below:

1. Stock Market Indicators
• Shiller Cape
• S&P 500 - 12 Months Trailing PE
• S&P 500 - EPS
2. Investor Sentiment Indicators
• VIX Indicator
• NYSE Breadth Indicator
• American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment Survey
3. Economic Indicators
• Manufacturing PMI
• Services PMI
• Unemployment Rate

Each of the three components represents the stability/sentiment/condition of the US stock market over different time horizons. This is how I would like to summarize what each component represents:

• The "Investor Sentiment Indicators" represent the condition/sentiment of the stock market over the range of Days and Weeks. In other words, these indicators represent the emotion of investors towards the stock market.
• The "Stock Market Indicators" represent the condition/sentiment of the stock market over the range of Months to Years (1-4 Years). This represents the value of the stocks listed in the stock market.
• The "Economic Indicators" represent the condition/sentiments of the stock market over the range of Years (5 years and above). This is the strongest trigger that would influence the actual condition of the stock market. Economic Data are the most powerful indicators that many fundamental investors tend to use to predict or even to confirm an actual bear or bull market.

The Analysis

I intend to make this analysis a very simple one as well as to point out how data of these indicators have changed over the past two years.  First let us take a look at details we captured

Date Captured on 25th of July 2017:

Observation: 

• The "Stock Market Indicators" are already Overvalued since 2017.
• However Investors are still Bullish of the Stock Market
• The "Economic Indicators" are showing that the US economy is in best of health. 

Date Captured on 15th of February 2018:

Observation: 

• Investors are showing some uncertainties but majority are still Bullish. 
• The "Stock Market Indicators" continue to be Overvalued. Value of Shiller CAPE and EPS have risen over a period of 7 months.
• The "Economic Indicators" continue to show that the US economy is in best of health. Unemployment Rate continue to drop while Manufacturing PMI continue to rise.

Date Captured on 13th of July 2019:

Observation: 

• Investors are still Bullish. 
• The "Stock Market Indicators" continue to be Overvalued. 
• There is some cause for concern here. The "Economic Indicator" for Manufacturing and Services PMI both shown continues drop in the value. In fact the Manufacturing PMI have fallen into the Neutral zone. 

Summary

As you can see, the "Stock Market Indicators" have always been Overvalued for the past 2 years. Never the less, bullish exuberance of investors that are backed by positive economic indicators have continue to keep the stock market in a somewhat bullish state.

The most interesting observation that I hope to highlight over the past 2 years is the drop in US Manufacturing PMI and Services PMI (both are important Economic indicators). If you were to Google the definition of Manufacturing PMI and Services PMI, you would realize that if both these PMIs drop below the 50 point threshold, we are looking at potential signs that could trigger an increase in the unemployment rate (the 3rd indicator) and potentially a recession. 

My advice for the long run is to continue monitoring all these 9 indicators and watch for further signs of potential dangers and of course to follow Invest Made Easy Facebook page for future updates!

Cheers and Happy Investing to all of you!

Mutual Fund Must Be Full of Con Men?

That title would have caught your attention to actually read this post, am I right? These are in fact actual words posted by a forum member in investlah.com in a thread dated 15th February 2012 as shown below:

Click to Enlarge

I believe most of us would have seen/read/heard the same kind of complaints containing key words such as:

1. Public Mutual

2. Drop/Lost

3. Con Men

4. Cheat

5. Lie

In fact reading the forum post above frustrates me a hell of a lot due to the following reasons:

1. Unit trust is designed for long term investment range yet it has been wrongly perceived by investors as a quick way to make quick returns.

2. A unit trust is designed for consistent investment over a period of time. Investors are not encouraged to invest one lump sum at one go. Investing a lump sum into unit trust when the stock market is at its peak due to over optimism (when optimism is at its peak, the stock market tends to crash) is the biggest reason why many investors find themselves losing a large chunk of their original investment. 

3. Unit trust investing is not speculative.Therefore please do not think of buying unit trust today and hoping to make profit by redeeming your units by next week or next month. The investment horizon should be longer then 3 years, at least!

4. Failure of unit trust consultant to highlight the risk nature of a fund to the investor. This problem is mostly caused by consultants whom are marketing unit trust purely for the sales commission. Due to the urgency to convince and to make a sale, some consultants tend to exaggerated the performance figures while intentionally leaving out the risk that comes with the fund.

5. Not all unit trust funds will guarantee profit even over long term. Such is the case of funds that are invested into China or Asia Pacific excluding Japan over the past couple of years. You can check out the performance of the Top 10 funds in China as well as the Top 10 Funds in Asia Pacific excluding Japan in my review HERE. 

It is of no surprise for an investor to be blinded by the promises of good returns to willingly fork out a large sum of money to invest in a fund that is new with no track record and at the same time disregarding the fact that countries such as China and Hong Kong.are extremely volatile. 

"High Risk, High Return-mah!" A catch phrase so commonly used by consultants that investors tend to forget and forgo the basics of risk evaluation when it comes to investing. Key steps such as finding out what are the risk involved, obtain independent views (not just from the consultant), evaluating and finally deciding if its worth taking or not were neglected.

Summary

Every unit trust consultant certified by Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM) is responsible to provide correct and proper advice for investors. Lack of professionalism and unethical conducts among consultant is just going to ruin the image of unit trust and ultimately his or her own rice bowl.

Investors on the other hand should take responsibility in knowing and understanding what they are investing. Know and acknowledge that there are risks in every investment. Stop pointing fingers, for every one finger pointing to another party, 4 more is pointing back at you.

Cheers and Happy Investing!

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Stocks or Unit Trust? You Decide!

The 13th General Election fever is now over and I believe many are now suffering what I call an election hangover. Unless there is a re-election, there will not be anymore mega ceramah, free dinner & handouts or mega concerts for Malaysians to go to every night. Most of us have gone back to our daily routine, while some are still celebrating (BN supporters) and some I know are still depressed and sulking by the outcome (Pakatan supporters) of the election. 

For many investors, fears of the Bursa Malaysia Index suffering a dip due to uncertainty were laid to rest as the ruling coalition maintains its position for another 5 years. Investors whom have stayed invested and held on to their shares and unit trust before election are beaming ear to ear as the Bursa gained 57.25 points (+3.38%). Leading the gains were companies that were expected to be scrutinized if the Pakatan were to form the federal government such as financial giant, CIMB adding 74cents (where the CEO is our PM's brother), gambling giant, Genting adding 67cents and gas producer, Petronas Dagangan adding 106 cents. 

On the other end of the spectrum, there are also investors whom have prepare cash hoping for opportunity buying today if the outcome of the election is the other way around. Whenever the general sentiment is negative, most stocks will suffer a drop in price thereby allowing investors to purchase good stocks at low price. The general pre-election consensus was that the stock market will suffer a dip if the Pakatan coalition forms a government as both local and foreign investors would stay away from stocks while waiting for Pakatan to get their house in order. However this scenario fail to materialized and the stock market was rewarded with a big boost today as investors whom have gotten used to the 55 years rule of the ruling coalition return actively to trade.

Undeniably this is how all stock market works, the overall sentiment, both positive or negative, political or non-political plays a role in determining the movement of stock prices. In stocks you can make money fast as well as losing it quckly. This is not to say that you can never make money out of investing in stocks, just that you need to have the patience and the effort to learn the trade and pick stocks which are fundamentally strong. This has been done and many have done it successfully!

If you find that stocks is just not your cup of tea, yet would still like to see your savings grow faster then the Fixed Deposit rate or EPF dividend, then unit trust could be an option for you. Generally, most unit trust are also invested into the stock market. The fund manager for a particular unit trust funds will decide how our money is invested, i.e which stock to buy, when to buy and when to sell. In a nutshell, a unit trust investor leaves the difficult part of investing in stocks to the fund manager. The time saved from analyzing stocks can be put to use into other priorities in life (e.g family, hobby, etc). Furthermore, you need not lose sleep even if the stock market crashes the next day for we leave all of that worries to the fund manager. An experienced fund manager with first hand information and years of investment experience should be able to take the necessary precaution in order to protect our investment and minimize losses.  

When investing in unit trust, there is no guarantee of profit year in year out. Therefore if an agent comes and tell you investing in unit trust guarantees you consistent profit, that agent is a LIAR! 

Here's a screenshot of an actual unit trust fund performance (investing 90% of its fund into Malaysia stock market):

Looking at the performance above, in 2008 during a market crash, this fund lost about -24.73% of its total investment. Then in 2009, it gained 33.31%, 2010 gained 32.71%, 2011 added 19.07% and in 2012 added  14.06%.

Say for example if we take the average of 5 years gains for this fund, it comes out to about 14.9% annually. Far better then both the FD and EPF dividend rate. This is what I term as passive long term investing without worrying about the details of stock investing. 

In addition, this also proves a point that even in unit trust we are susceptible to losses as what happened in 2008. We will suffer losses from a stock market crash just as much as we profit from a fantastic bull run. The tip about long term investing in unit trust is selecting a fund that has a good track record and managed by a fundamentally sound fund manager.

Secondly, it is recommended to consistently invest (monthly or quarterly) for a period of 5 years or longer. This is to leverage on the concept of dollar cost averaging. I intend to post an article about cost averaging in the near future, so you might have to Google it first to find out more. 

On a personal level, I invest both in unit trust and in stocks. Unit trust for long term horizon (10 years or more) and stocks for a shorter horizon (3-10 years). You might ask why not just invest entirely into stocks? Firstly, I'm also in the process of learning the trades of stocks and it is not a risk worth taking by investing a large sum of money into it when you're still learning. Secondly, I only invest into stocks with whatever additional cash I have in hand. For the amount of cash I have, I seriously doubt I am able to invest heavily into expensive blue chip stocks. Thirdly, I am an investor and not a speculator, penny stocks (goreng stocks), despite being cheap are not fundamentally sound and will never be a part of my stock investment strategy. Lastly, making my own decision on which stocks to invest in gives me a great sense of satisfaction especially if the stocks I pick start to make gains.

As for unit trust, this is a long term investment strategy (10 years or more) that I intend apply whereby:

1. Investing in unit trust that invest in the stock market allows me to benefit from good quality stocks purchased by the fund managers.

2. Good stocks which I am unable to afford using my own cash can be owned indirectly from the unit trust fund. With fund size ranging from RM50 million to few hundred millions, fund manager are able to invest into own these stocks.

3. Provides me an opportunity to invest overseas such as the Asia Pacific region via unit trust fund that offers this type of investment.

4. Enjoy great dividend from good performing unit trust funds. 

So you see, it is a two pronged approach which I practice in terms of investment strategy. I started by researching into unit trust and now I'm moving into stocks. Both are investment options with pros and cons, believers and non-believers. Lastly, the most important investment one must first make is an investment into knowledge. That will become your key and guidance to become a successful investor.

Cheers and Happy Investing!

P.s : If you are based in Johor Bahru and would to know more about investing, feel free to e-mail me at sickfreak03@gmail.com

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AMB Dividend Trust Fund or AMB Value Trust Fund....Decisions Decisions!

vs

Tomorrow is the much awaited Phillip Capital Annual Investment Fair! One of the key reason I'm heading over to the fair tomorrow is to take advantage of the 0.5% sales charge fee and increase my units on existing invested funds. Secondly, I'm also thinking about purchasing a new fund from Amanah Mutual Berhad (AMB). 

Initially I've set my mind on purchasing AMB Dividend Trust Fund (AMBDTF) who is ranked 2nd in the Equity Malaysia Category for 5 Year Performance. When I wrote the article on Lipper Award two days ago, I found out that AMB Value Trust Fund (AMBVTF) was the Lipper Award winner for Best Equity Malaysia Fund under the 5 Year category. 

So which fund should I invest in?

In this article, I intend to do a comparison between both funds and decide which fund is the best. Before that, let me share some background information about the fund house itself:

Background about Amanah Mutual Berhad (AMB)

Amanah Mutual Berhad (AMB) is a unit trust management company regulated by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC). AMB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB), and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) is the ultimate holding company. The corporate structure for AMB is a shown below:

It does make me wonder why people invest into Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB) when there is a much better option to purchase from Amanah Mutual Berhad. Point to ponder especially when you consider that both ASNB and AMB have the same nature of investment.

Why choose between AMBDTF and AMBVTF?

AMBDTF is the best performing Equity Malaysia Fund for 2012 while AMBVTF is the Lipper Award Winner for Best Equity Malaysia fund under the 5 Years Category. In fact both funds are the best performing fund under AMB's Family of Funds, just see below:

General Comparison Between AMBDTF and AMBVTF

Details	AMB Dividend Trust Fund (AMBDTF)	AMB Value Trust Fund (AMBVTF)
Type of Fund	Income and Growth Fund	Capital Growth Fund
External Investment Manager	HwangDBS Investment Management Berhad	UOB-OSK Asset Management Sdn Bhd
Investment Philosophy	AMBDTF will invest in a well-diversified equity portfolio, and which will focus on high (and potentially high) dividend yielding equities in Malaysia and other eligible market. May also invest in fixed income securities as a tactical defensive measure depending on market conditions	Investment of AMBVTF will invest into securities which are trading below their intrinsic values. The Fund is structured to provide investors with capital growth in the medium to long term.
Benefits for Investors	Diversified Portfolio AMBDTF is a fund that provides investors the opportunity to invest in a well-diversified Malaysian and Asian ex-Japan equity portfolio with exposures ranging from 70% to 99.8%. Tactical Defensive Measure The portfolio is an actively managed defensive Fund that allows 30% of its NAV to be invested in fixed income securities as a tactical defensive measure depending on market conditions.	Provides investors with an alternative approach when investing in equity markets. Value Investments do not necessarily behave in a similar fashion when compared to growth oriented investments. This is generally due to the fact that value funds are normally associated with neglected or “out-of-favour stocks” while growth funds are focused on stocks with the above average growth.
Specific Benefits*	Eligible Unit Holders of AMBDTF will be given free Group Personal Accident (GPA) coverage. Unit Holders holding a minimum amount of 4,000 Units and above will automatically be covered under the GPA insurance for accidental death and Total Permanent Disability (TPD). The sum insured would be RM0.25 for every Unit held subject to a minimum investment of 4,000 Units and maximum coverage of RM200,000.	Eligible Unit Holders holding Class A-MYR Units of AMBVTF will be given free Group Personal Accident (GPA) insurance coverage. Unit Holders holding a minimum of 2,000 Units and above will automatically be covered under the GPA insurance coverage. The sum covered would be RM0.50 for every Unit held subject to a minimum investment of 2,000 Units and maximum coverage of RM200,000.
Initial investment	RM500	RM500
Subsequent investments	RM100	RM100
EPF Approved Fund	YES	YES

*Insurance protection is one of the reason why I am considering  investing long term in either one of this fund. 

*Another observation here is that AMBVTF offer better insurance coverage due to the sum covered is RM0.50 for every unit owned as compared to AMBDTF which cover RM0.25 for every unit owned. However both are subjected to a maximum coverage of RM200,000 only.

Asset Allocation for AMBDTF and AMBVTF

Nature of Asset Allocation for AMBDTF (as stated in Prospectus)

Asset Allocation for AMBDTF

Actual Asset Holdings for AMBDTF as of 31 Dec 2012

Nature of Asset Allocation for AMBVTF (as stated in Prospectus)

Asset Allocation for AMBVTF

Actual Asset Holdings for AMBVTF as of 31 Dec 2012

Blue blue blue chip sticks all the wayyyyy

Performance Comparison between AMBDTF and AMBVTF

a) Cumulative Total Returns (1 Year, 3 Years and 5 Years)

PERIOD (as of 31 Dec 2012)	AMBDTF	AMBVTF
1 Year	22.79%	14.39%
3 Years	57.15%	47.27%
5 Years	85.59%	71.00%

*source from AMB Fund Factsheet

Cumulative Total Return Better Performer : AMBDTF

b) Average Total Return Per Annum (1 Year, 3 Years and 5 Years)

PERIOD (as of 24 Jan 2013)	AMBDTF	AMBVTF
1 Year	19.23%	10.76%
3 Years	15.19%	11.71%
5 Years	13.56%	12.00%

*source from AMB

Average Total Return Per Annum Better Performer : AMBDTF

c) Year to Year % Actual Returns (from 2008 - 2012)

YEAR	AMBDTF	AMBVTF
2012	22.73%	14.28%
2011	7.52%	2.66%
2010	18.92%	25.08%
2009	38.66%	38.37%
2008	-14.86%	-16.04%

Year to Year % Actual Returns Better Performer : NONE

Summary of Performance

In terms of performance, both funds are fairly close. In my opinion, AMBDTF has a slight edge over AMBVTF for the following reasons:

• Better performance in terms of cumulative total returns and average total returns.
• Lower losses during 2008 economic recession as indicated in the year to year % actual returns table. This is vital as it indicate how well the fund manager manages the fund during a downturn.

While AMBDTF is a better performer then AMBVTF, do remember that past performance of a fund does not reflect future performance. I tend to use past results as an indicator on how well a fund manager manages a fund especially when times are bad. 

Overall Summary

Referring to the earlier part of this article, one of the reason I love both funds is because of the insurance protection offered. AMBVTF has a better coverage value per amount invested as compared to AMBDTF. However for long term investors, the maximum coverage of RM200,000 is easily achievable. 

Meanwhile in terms of fund performance, has the AMBDTF edge albeit just a little compared to AMBVTF. Both funds are capable of producing double digit returns annualized. 

Finally the question of which fund should I choose to invest in? 

That's for me to know and for you to decide for yourself (smiley face). I've already shown you the facts and  figures plus.....since I already own a few other pure equity malaysia funds in my portfolio, I might consider something different....if you know what I mean!

Cheers and happy investing!

PS : If you're confused with some of the terms used, I would suggest that you read the following:

• Saving On Sales Charge Fee When Purchasing Unit Trust Fund
• A Guide Towards Understanding Unit Trust Performance Table

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A Guide Towards Understanding Unit Trust Performance Table

Let's begin by looking at a sample Unit Trust Performance Table shown below:

Definition according to the number tagged in the picture above:

( 1 ) Fund Name

Duh! Basically this refers to the name of a specific Unit Trust Fund. 

( 2 ) Fund Price

When investing in Unit Trust, we are in fact purchasing "units" based on the fund's price. Fund price changes on a day to day basis based on the calculation which I will explain next.

Determining the Fund Price

Fund price also commonly known as the Net Asset Value (NAV) per unit is calculated by adding up the current value of all the stocks, bonds, and other securities (including cash) in the fund's portfolio, subtracting out certain daily expenses of running the fund (e.g the management fees, trustee fee, and other operating expenses) and then dividing that figure by the fund's total number of units. A fund price is always calculated at the end of each business day. 

For example, Fund X intends to calculate the fund price per unit at the end of a business day with the following information:

a) Asset at end of business day : RM48,200,000

b) Liability at end of business day : RM200,000

c) Total number of units : 80,000,000 units (referring to the units purchased by investors)

Fund price per unit : (RM48,200,000 - RM200,000) / 80,000,000 units = RM0.60/unit

On the following business day, investors can then purchase units from this fund at the price of RM0.60/unit.

( 3 ) Fund Manager

The organization / company responsible for implementing a fund's investment strategies and managing its portfolio trading activities. If you read deeper into a Unit Trust Fund prospectus you will also find the individual / person in charge of managing your fund.

( 4 ) YTD (%)

YTD is short for Year To Date. YTD (%) is the percentage difference between the Fund Price on the last day of last year to the Fund's latest closing price.

Sample calculation as follows:

a) Fund Price for ASM Balanced Fund on 31 Dec 2012 : RM0.7296 /unit

b) Fund Price for ASM Balanced Fund on 18 Jan 2013 : RM0.7319 /unit

% Year To Date : (RM0.7319 - RM0.7296) / RM0.7296  X 100% = 0.32%

When looking at YTD (%), we are comparing the latest performance of the fund against the benchmark price of the previous year. 

( 5 ) 1 mth (%), 3 mth (%), 6 mth (%) and 1 yr (%)

Somewhat similar to YTD (%), but with a little twist to it. For example when looking at the performance table of Unit Trust as of 15th January 2013, the 1 mth (%) is the percentage difference between the fund price on 15th January 2013 with the price of the same fund a month ago (15th Dec 2012). 

3 mth (%) : Percentage difference between the price on 15th January 2013 with price on 15th Oct 2012

6 mth (%) : Percentage difference between the price on 15th January 2013 with price on 15th July 2012

1 yr (%) : : Percentage difference between the price on 15th January 2013 with price on 15th January 2012

( 6 ) 3 yrs (%) and 5 yrs (%) annualized

When investing into unit trust, we should be aware that performance of a fund varies from year to year. Profits and losses are indicated by the comparing the percentage difference of the fund's NAV for one financial year to the previous financial year. Different funds have different financial year end and should not to be confused with our normal calender year end of 31st December.

Here's a sample Annualized Returns for a fund: 

Referring to table row for "Jumlah Pulangan (%)", we see that as by financial year end 30th November 2011, this fund posted 3.17% growth on NAV from the previous financial year. For 2010, the growth is 12.60% and 21.96% for 2009. During the 2008 economy downturn, the fund posted -17.96% losses from its previous year NAV. Clearly profit and loss for any unit trust fund tend to vary from one financial year to the other.

To compare funds using actual year performance such as the one above is rather difficult due to different financial year of each unit trust fund. Furthermore, yearly comparison does not reflect the overall objective of evaluating the long term performance of a unit trust fund.

Hence when it comes to comparing performance of unit trust funds for duration longer then one year, each unit trust performance are "annualized" to reflect the average performance per year of a fund with reference to a specific date.

For example, whenever you read or hear that a fund returns 10% over a period of 3 years (%) annualized as of 31st December 2012, the information should be perceived as average 10% returns every year measured on the 31st of December for the past 3 years..

5 yrs (%) annualized is similar to the 3 years concept except that the duration of average returns is over a period of 5 years.

( 7 ) Shariah Compliant

A shariah compliant fund is denoted by "Y" and a non-shariah compliant fund is denoted by "N".

What is Shariah Compliant Fund?

Shariah compliant funds must invest according to the Shariah law as well as abide to the guideline of Islamic Finance. Shariah compliant funds provide an opportunity for our fellow Muslim friends to partake in unit trust investment without worrying if profits are obtained from non-halal sectors such as gambling and liquor.

**********************************

#17th March 2013: Additional Information for Understanding Unit Trust Performance Table

a) Funds are divided into 4 Main Categories consisting of:

• Asia Excluding Japan
• Equity Malaysia
• Greater China
• Fixed Income (Malaysia)

b) All funds are ranked according to their Average 5 Year Returns (Annualized). 

c) Movement of funds on the ranking table are indicated by the colored bars below:

Fund movements are determine by comparing their previous ranking.

d) Apart from the Top 10 Unit Trust Performing Table, there is also another table that shows the Best Performing Fund according to Gain/Loss within a 2 week period. The Best Performing Fund According to Gain/Loss within a 2 week period allows investors to monitor:

• The previous ranking and current ranking table in order to ascertain which fund is consistently performing (as indicated by the red box in the sample below).
• The average 2 Weeks Gain/Loss in Percentage. This signifies the overall average performance of all 10 funds in a particular category (as indicated by the blue box in the sample below).

*************************************

Cheers and happy investing!

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Top 10 Best Performing Unit Trust Funds As of 15th Jan 2013

I bring you the Top 10 Best Performing Unit Trust Fund as of 15th January 2013. Funds are grouped according to 4 Major Categories consisting of:

1. Equity Malaysia

2. Asia Excluding Japan

3. Greater China

4. Fixed Income (Malaysia)

All funds are ranked according to their Average 5 Year Returns (Annualized). 

Starting today, I'll be introducing a simple system to track the movement of the Top 10 funds in comparison to their previous ranking. Therefore the Top 10 funds for 15th January 2012 are compared with the fund previous ranking (1st January 2012). Funds movement are indicated based on the legend shown below:

Category : Equity Malaysia (Click Picture to Enlarge)

Overview for Equity Malaysia:

1. The usual suspects of MAAKL-HDBS Fixed Fund, AMB Dividend Trust Fund and Kenanga Growth Fund occupy the top three position of the best performing Equity Malaysia Fund once again. The big three as I would like to term them have also average more then 11% returns annualized over the 5 year period making them the choice of investment for many unit trust investors.

2. Impressive 1 year returns from Philip Master Equity Growth Fund and MAAKL Al-Fauzan helped raised respective Average 5 Year Returns.

Funds to watch :

1. MAAKL Al-Fauzan

2. Public Focus Select Fund

3. Hwang AIIMAN Growth (there is a similar fund offered by Hwang Management Sdn. Bhd. for PRS investment, click HERE to read more)

Category : Asia excluding Japan (Click Picture to Enlarge)

Overview for Asia excluding Japan

1. The top 5 of Asia excluding Japan funds have posted double digit returns for the past one year. A good sign that the Asia market is recovering. I've read several articles which are also expecting better performance of the Asia economy for 2013. Recommended to buy only as a diversification of your portfolio.

2. We also see the entry of MAAKL Pacific Fund into the top 10 list in place of PB Islamic Asia Strategic Sector Fund.. The rise of MAAKL Pacific Fund is due to the 13.06% returns for the one year period (3rd best ranked fund over the one year period).

Funds to watch:

1. MAAKL Pacific Fund

2. Hong Leong Asia-Pacific Dividend Fund

3. PB Islamic Asia Equity Fund

Category : Greater China (Click Picture to Enlarge)

Overview for Greater China

1. The top 10 funds remain unchanged in terms of ranking. As I have mentioned previously, buying Greater China funds is an option if your intend to diversify your portfolio. 

2. One year performance of all the funds are encouraging especially funds from CIMB.

Funds to watch:

1. CIMB-Principal Greater China Equity Fund

2. PB China Pacific Equity Fund

3. Hwang China Select Fund

Category : Fixed Income - Malaysia (Click Picture to Enlarge)

Overview Fixed Income - Malaysia

1. AmDynamic Bond remains the best performing Fixed Income - Malaysia fund. Not surprising with the average of 8.59% returns over 5 years. 

2. KAF Bond Fund rises from 4th to 3rd rank although their 1 year performance have not been encouraging. I believe the past couple of years, KAF Bond Fund should be averaging quite a high figure only to see a drop in ranking recently due to poor performance. Good news for all as KAF Bond Fund can now be purchased at eUnittrust!

Funds to watch:

1. RHB Golden Life Today

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Cheers and Happy Investing!