“In the face of challenging global macroeconomic conditions, including rising interest rates and persistent inflation, our portfolios continued to demonstrate resilience and adaptability over the past year. This outperformance hinges on our core strategy of bottom-up stock-picking which is underpinned by our investment philosophy of combining fundamental research with relative value approach in order to produce risk adjusted returns,” says Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Wira Ismitz Matthew De Alwis.
From analysing industry dynamics and trends to individual company business models, Datuk Wira De Alwis says the firm was able to gain valuable insights thereby enabling informed decision-making. “By monitoring most of the key companies within each sector, we were able to size positions effectively across portfolios. The construction, utilities and regional technology sectors were particularly successful, playing a crucial role in our achievement,” he explains.
On the current economic outlook for this year, Chief Investment Officer Lee Sook Yee says “We are adopting a tactical overweight position in equities, driven by a positive outlook. We will remain ready to readjust our allocations depending on market conditions. Our strategy remains consistent by focusing on bottom-up stock-picking.”
Globally, she sees some opportunities in the semiconductor sector due to increased AI demand. “AI adoption is in its early stages, with corporations and governments looking to ramp up deployments this year. We are also positive on sectors such as construction, property and renewable energy domestically due to an encouraging momentum in policy execution,” Lee elaborates. Additionally, she states that an anticipated recovery for global smartphones and PCs leading to a positive sentiment towards the local tech and manufacturing sectors, has contributed to the firm’s overweight position on Malaysia this year.
KMIF picks up its fourth title at the Awards by delivering returns of 111.53% (10 years) and 64.70% (5 years) as at 31 December 2023. For the same period, KDF’s returns stood at 70.35% (10 years) and 47.01% (5 years).
For more than three decades, the Awards have recognised funds and fund management firms for their consistently strong risk-adjusted three-, five-, and ten-year performance relative to their peers. Based on Lipper’s quantitative, proprietary methodology, the Awards reflect a truly independent and uncompromised assessment of fund performance.
For more information about Kenanga Investors, please visit www.kenangainvestors.com.my
