SLI's GARS suffers as sell-off drags down returns

The performance of the Standard Life Investment's Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) fund significantly lagged the IMA Targeted Absolute Return sector amid recent market volatility as some positions failed to pay off.

Over the month to 28 June the fund is down 2.33%, according to Morningstar, significantly lagging both the sector average of -0.76% and the 3 month LIBOR return of 0.04%. The portfolio's exposure to Russian and Chinese equities was likely one of the contributors to poor performance, as these markets fell more than developed regions following Ben Bernanke's speech hinting at the end of US QE. The strategy had a 4.9% and 3.9% risk weighting to Russian and Chinese equities, respectively, at the end of May. Darius McDermott, managing director at Chelsea Financial Services, said: "The d...