Shareholders agree benchmark change

Shareholders in Martin Currie’s £113.6m Pacific Trust have voted to adjust the fund’s benchmark, removing a fixed exposure to Japan.

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The benchmark was changed from the MSCI All Countries Asia Pacific (Japan fixed at 40 per cent) to the MSCI All Countries Asia Pacific index.

Fund manager John Millar said the decision had not been taken to reflect an altered investment strategy or reduce exposure to the beleaguered economy.

Instead, he said, the change had been made to increase transparency, so the fund would be more comparable with its peers.

Both the £121.7m Witan Pacific and £42.7m Aberdeen All Asia use the MSCI All Countries Asia Pacific index.

Mr Millar said: "Japan is actually about 48 per cent of the index and we are currently at around 25 per cent. So if we were changing the benchmark and allowing the investment strategy to move with it, it would mean almost doubling our exposure."

The manager said despite some good value emerging in Japan, significant headwinds could affect earnings. These include high commodity prices hurting manufacturing firms and a high yen damaging exporters.

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