Equity market 'whiplash' weighs on Ruffer's performance

Reduced equity exposure to lowest since crisis

The managers of the Ruffer Investment Company said cutting their equity exposure to its lowest level since the financial crisis failed to prevent investment losses last year.

In an update for investors, Hamish Baillie and Steve Russell (pictured) shared their insights into the performance of the £308m trust. They said equity exposure was cut to the lowest level since the financial crisis at the end of 2015, but it could not save them from losses despite positive returns from inflation-linked bonds and gold. The trust has lost 7.5% over the year to 5 February, according to FE Trustnet, versus an AIC Flexible Investment sector average return of 0.5%. Its NAV is also down 7.2%. The trust currently has 37% allocated to global equities, down from 44% in Nove...