LONDON (Alliance News) - BH Macro Ltd on Tuesday said it achieved a gain in net asset value on its sterling shares of around 3.0% by the end of the first quarter of 2015, but ended with a marginal fall in NAV over the year as a whole of 0.86%.
The stronger performance in the first quarter reflected the more active market conditions prevailing at the start of the year: NAV gains were made from the ECB's move to quantitative easing while avoiding losses on the de-pegging of the Swiss franc.
Thereafter, however, for much of the remainder of the year markets retreated into a more cautious pattern of trading," Chairman Ian Plenderleith said in a statement.
"Market activity was dampened by heightened uncertainties flowing from strains in the Eurozone, the fall in oil and commodity prices, weakness in the Chinese economy and the impact of disturbance in the Middle East. In this environment, there was little scope for macro-directional trading until the final months of the year, when gains were made in November in anticipation of further monetary easing by the ECB. These gains were, however, reversed in December when the ECB's action proved less substantial than markets had expected," Plenderleith said.
"Increased divergence between the major economies, as manifest in the contrasting monetary actions taken by the Federal Reserve and the ECB at the end of the year, suggests that opportunities for macro-trading may be more in evidence in the future than has been the case for the past two years or more," Plenderleith added.
BH Macro shares were up 0.1% to 1,994.00p.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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BH Macro GBP (BHMG)