Investment trust discount levels widened from an average of 4.8% to 8% by the end of Q1, as turbulent markets and weakening retail demand impacted performance, according to Winterflood's latest quarterly review of the sector.
Discounts were volatile over the first three months of the year, with further widening towards the second half as trusts "failed to fully participate" in the market rally from mid-February. Overall, the FTSE Equity Investment Instruments index was down 2.2%, compared to a decline of 0.4% for the FTSE All Share. Including hedge funds, private equity and property vehicles, the average discount at the end of Q1 was 5.6%, compared to 2.7% at the end of 2015. Winterflood noted a huge variation in NAV performance across sub-sectors over the period. Thirteen delivered negative performance, w...
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