Pengana Global Volatility gains 24pc
Monday, 10 November 2008 12:50pm
By Michelle Baltazar | In Investment
Early institutional investors to the Pengana Global Volatility fund have been amply rewarded as the fund locks in a 24 per cent gain in the nine months to August.
The fund, managed by Al Wilkinson, the man widely credited for creating the VIX (Volatility Index), has been in top form month-on-month since the Global Volatility strategy was launched in Australia last November.
Among its early clients is QIC, which invested more than $150 million initially and then more than $100 million again in February.
US-based Wilkinson, who was in Sydney last week, said that he is confident that the fund will meet year-end projections of a 30 per cent plus return and is just awaiting confirmation of their September and October performance - a time when VIX reached abnormal highs of 80 - when market uncertainty due to the global financial crisis was at its peak.
"High volatility breeds uncertainty and uncertainty breeds opportunity [for the fund]," said Wilkinson.
With the US election out of the way, and after much government intervention, the index is back to around the mid-50s range and Wilkinson expects it to slide to around 50 come Christmas time.
While he doesn't expect the index to go as high as it did during Black October, he believes high volatility will continue as the US awaits the President-elect's new policies.
"You've got the new president so what's the new tax policy? By how much is he going to raise federal taxes? What is he going to do with the inheritance tax? What's going to be in the budget?" asked Wilkinson.
"The inherent risk characteristics of the market aren't going to go away any time in the near future," he said.
This story was found at: http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/24466
Printed: Thursday, 9 February 2012 12:25am