TEMIT outpaced benchmark index in 2010

Net asset value per share has broken through the £7 barrier at Templeton Emerging Markets (TEMIT), the investment trust predominantly invested in Brazil, China, Hong Kong and India.The trust's total assets, on a with income basis, rose to £2,343m at the end of 2010 from £2,200m at the end of September, giving a year-end net asset value per share (NAV) of 710.3p, up from 666.9p three months earlier.The 6.5% improvement in NAV trailed the 8.1% gain in the MSCI Emerging Market Index over the final quarter of 2010, but for 2010 as a whole TEMIT left the benchmark index eating its dust, as NAV rose 28.2% compared to a 22.9% rise in the index."Emerging economies continued to report strong economic growth in the period from 1 October 2010 to 31 December 2010. However, markets experienced a temporary period of heightened volatility in November as concerns of a wider debt crisis in the Euro zone resurfaced and North Korea and South Korea engaged in border skirmishes, sparking off a fresh round of tensions on the Korean Peninsula," the company noted, adding that the falls in equity prices proved short-lived as investors focused on the long-term opportunities and prospects. There were no purchases or sales from the portfolio during the three month period to 31 December 2010.