Murray warns of choppy seas ahead

Murray International Trust beat its benchmark in the first half of the year, while complaining of 'extremely harsh investment conditions'.The firm was decidedly downbeat on the outlook going forward, saying that securing positive financial returns could prove difficult in the near term.Net asset value total return in the first half was up 6.1% compared with a total return of 4.2% on the Trust's benchmark.Murray said it had been helped by choosing significant overweight exposure to Asia, while having a relatively low exposure to the UK.Chairman Kevin Carter said that given the enormous weight of monetary stimulus pumped into the global financial system, the lack of economic traction was a great concern. "In the absence of growth, where this leaves the very heavily indebted, mature, consumption-based economies of the United States, the UK, Europe and Japan remains the defining issue of the day, even perhaps of the decade," he said. "This suggests low growth, periods of recession, stagnant labour markets plus contracting overall incomes and living standards for the foreseeable future. "Against this backdrop, securing positive financial returns could prove difficult near term," he added.Carter tried to buoy investors, saying widespread portfolio diversification throughout the world continued to give exposure to attractive long term investment opportunities in solid, high quality companies.