From March 2003 to March 2008, the annualised return for the Legg Mason Asian Bond Trust was 4.6%. This performance figure is much stronger than its peers’ average annualised return of 1.8% during this period. In 2006, when most Asian bond funds showed a fall or negative return, the fund delivered a return of 6.9%, higher than the average 0.7% from funds in this category. The expense ratio of the fund is 1.3% (as at end March 2008) and is one of the lowest in this category. The bond fund has the option to invest in non-investment grade Asian sovereign bonds, so the risk level of this bond fund could be higher than Asian bond funds that limit their investment universe to investment-grade sovereign bond funds.

Asian bonds can be part of an investor’s core portfolio, although they are slightly more volatile than global funds owing to a more concentrated regional diversification. Bond movements typically have a very low correlation with equity movement; thus, investors can consider placing this fund in their core portfolio to balance out their equity and bond allocations. The fund is denominated in SGD and invests into the bond markets of various Asian economies. According to the prospectus of the fund as at July 2007, to help limit foreign exchange risks, non-SGD currency exposure would be substantially hedged with a minimum of 70% of the trust to be in SGD after hedging.

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The Aberdeen Pacific Equity Fund was the best performing fund in the five-year period spanning from end March 2003 to end March 2008. The fund has returned an annualised return of 24.5% over the past five years as at end March 2008. During market corrections, the fund was among the better performers, returning -13.0% compared to the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index which fell -18.2% in the first quarter of 2008. However, the annual expense ratio of the fund is slightly above the average expense ratios of funds in this category, coming in at 1.91% (as at 31 March 2008) compared to the average of 1.9%.

The Asia ex-Japan market is one of the five main regional markets and should form part of an investor’s diversified core portfolio. As a regional equity fund, it is a good representation of the various Asia excluding Japan equity markets. Owing to its diversified scope, it is less volatile in nature than Asian single country funds. Investors should note that their currency exposure will be to the various Asian currencies of the different markets that the fund is invested in. Do note that currency risks are diversified as the currency exposure is spread among various Asian equity markets.

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This fund was the best performing fund amongst its peers from end March 2005 to end March 2008 and returned an annualized 19.2% during this period. The fund was the second best performing Asia ex-Japan fund in 2002 (when the US fell into recession) with a positive return of 4.7%. in terms of resiliency, the fund was among the top few funds, falling 11% in the first quarter 2008, lower than the average fall of 17.4% for the Asia ex-Japan equity funds that we carry on our platform. The annual expense ratio of the fund comes in at 1.88% (as at end March 2008), close to the average of 1.9%.

The Asia ex-Japan market is one of the five main regional markets and should form part of an investor’s diversified core portfolio. As a regional equity fund, it is a good representation of the various equity markets of the Asia ex-Japan region. Owing to its diversified scope, it is less volatile than Asian single country funds. Investors should note that their currency exposure will be to the various Asian currencies of the different markets that the fund is invested in. As a result, currency risks are diversified as the currency exposure is spread among various Asian markets.

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The First State Asia Innovation and Technology Fund has been performing well in the past few years, ahead of its peers and beating the benchmark. In the last five years ending March 2008, the fund returned an annualised 11.9%. It was the best performing Asian technology fund in 2005 and 2007, leading its peers listed on our platform. The annual expense ratio of the fund as at end 20 March 2008 is 2.24%, the lowest in this category, and gives good value to investors in the long run.

This fund invests in technology stocks in the Asian Pacific region, and should be part of an investor’s supplementary portfolio, as it has a narrower focus being a sector fund. Volatility figures for technology funds are also higher as prices of technology equities often exhibit high betas, as the performance of technology equities is closely linked to market performance. The fund is denominated in SGD and the investor’s currency exposure is spread across the various currencies of the equities that the fund invests into.

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The DWS Premier Select Trust fund was the best-performing global balance fund over the last five years, returning an annualised 10.4% from end March 2003 to end March 2008. The fund was the best-performing global balanced fund in 2005, 2006 and 2007, returning 12.5%, 12.0% and 8.6% respectively in these three years. However, the fund was not the most resilient during recent market corrections over the past couple of years. For example, it lost 6.5% during the 5 May 2006 to 16 June 2006 period compared to an average loss of 5.3%. The fund has an annual expense ratio of 1.22% (as at end March 2007) which is lower than the average of 1.59%.

This fund is suitable for investors with a lower risk appetite in their core portfolio as the fund is diversified into both bonds and equities. It is thus less volatile than global equity funds because of its partial allocation to bonds. The fund is denominated in SGD, but the investor’s currency risk is widely diversified owing to the global nature of this fund.

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The First State Bridge has consistently been a top performer amongst its peers, returning an annualised 9.5% over the last three years as at end March 2008. This fund was the best performing fund in 2004 with a return of 14.0% during that year. It was the second best performing fund in 2006, delivering a return of 11.5%. in terms of resiliency, the fund has also consistently been among the most resilient, falling 5.1% in the first quarter of 2008, in comparison to the average loss of 9.9%. it also has one of the lowest expense ratios of 1.6% as at 30 March 2008.

This fund may be suitable for the core portfolio, although it is more volatile than global balanced funds owing to a more concentrated regional allocation. The fund is invested into both bonds and equities and denominated in SGD, and the investor’s currency risk is mitigated as it is spread across the Asian currencies in the fund.

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The Parvest Converging Europe was the best performing Emerging Europe equity fund on our Fundsupermart.com platform in 2004, 2006 and year-to-date up to March 2008. The fund scored the highest for resiliency. From 23 July 2007 to 16 August 2007, when Emerging Europe stocks were undergoing a downturn, the fund lost 13.3%, less than the average loss of 14.8% by peers. The expense ratio as at February 2007 was 1.87%, close to the average among its peers.

Funds that invest into the Emerging Europe region should be part of an investor’s supplementary portfolio. Despite being a regional market, Emerging Europe equity funds tend to be more volatile than the Pan-European equity funds as their markets are less developed. The fund is denominated in the EUR but investors should note that their currency exposure will be to various Emerging European currencies that may not have joined the European Monetary Union.

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This fund is a feeder fund that feeds into the Aberdeen Global Emerging Markets Fund, a sub-fund of Luxembourg-registered Aberdeen Global. We analysed the mother fund performance to get a better gauge of how the fund performed over the longer term. The mother fund was the best performing fund in 2002 and 2006. The fund scores well in resiliency as it was ranked second most resilient fund in the first quarter of 2008, the period when global equity markets exhibited strong downside volatility. The annual expense ratio of the fund is one of the lowest amongst its peers at 1.92% (as at 31 March 2008).

The GEMs are one of the five main regional markets and should form part of an investor’s diversified core portfolio. Spanning across multiple geographical locations and markets, volatility figures for global emerging markets are lower than investing in a single emerging market fund. The fund is denominated in SGD but investors should note that their currency exposure will be to the various currencies of the emerging markets that the fund is invested in. Do note that currency risks are diversified as the currency exposure is spread among various emerging equity markets.

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From March 2004 to March 2008, the annualised return of the ABN AMRO Global Emerging Markets Bond Fund (EUR) was 10.6%. This performance figure is much stronger than its peers’ average annualized return of 6.0%. In the past years, the fund demonstrated consistency in performance superiority as it was ranked first for two years. In terms of resiliency, the fund was not the strongest performer during times of market corrections or downturns. However, the annual expense ratio of the fund is 1.24% (as at 30 April 2008), which is one of the lowest in this category, and gives good value to investors in the long run.

Global emerging market bonds can be part of an investor’s core portfolio although they are more volatile than global bond funds owing to the more risky nature of emerging market debt. Emerging market bond funds have the flexibility to invest in non-investment grade emerging market sovereign bonds. The fund invests in debt securities based in emerging markets, which are mostly denominated in USD, but the fund is hedged to a large extent in EUR. Investors have to take note that their currency exposure will be to EUR instead of the USD as a result.

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The Fidelity Funds - European Aggressive Fund (EUR) was the best performing European equity fund in the 1 to 6 years leading up to end March 2008. Its performance was ahead of its peers from March 2002 to March 2008; during this period, the fund had an annualised return of 12.6%. It was also the best performing fund in 2003 and 2007 among the European equity funds carried on our platform. In terms of resiliency, the fund also performed better than its peers, losing 11.1% during the first quarter of 2008 when markets were volatile, slightly better than the average loss of 13.4% among funds in the same category. The annual expense ratio of the fund is 1.91% (as at 30 April 2007), which is slightly below the average expense ratio of 2.0%.

The Europe regional market is one of the five main regional markets and should form part of an investor’s diversified core portfolio. As a regional market fund, it invests into equities across the entire European region. Owing to its geographical diversity, it is less volatile than single country funds. However, the fund’s portfolio is concentrated in fewer companies, hence its name. The fund is denominated in EUR and investors should note that their currency exposure will be largely to the EUR, with the exception of some of the companies in the fund that are denominated in currencies other than the EUR (for example, the RUB).

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From March 2003 to March 2008, the annualised return for the Legg Mason Global Bond Trust was 2.9%. this performance was stronger than its peers’ average annualized return of 1.8%. in the past five years, the fund demonstrated in performance superiority as it was the best performer in the 2-year period ending March 2008 and ranked second for the 3 and 5-year periods ending March 2008. in terms of resiliency, the fund did not score as well. During times of market corrections or downturns, performance during those times was lower than the average level of its peers in the same category. The annual expense ratio of the fund was at 0.93% (as at end March 2008), lower than the average expense ratio of 1.18% if its peers.

Global bond funds are good medium- to long-term investments that investors may consider placing in their core portfolio to balance out their equity and bond allocations. Bond movements typically have a very low correlation with equity movement; thus, the fund may be suitable for more conservative investors, this fund can form part of the core bond portion of a conservative or balanced portfolio, while the fund is denominated in SGD, the investor’s currency risk is widely diversified owing to global nature of this fund.

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From March 2003 to March 2008, the annualised return for LionGlobal Bond Fund stood at 2.5%. This performance figure is much stronger than its peers’ average annualised return of 1.8%. In the past five years, the fund demonstrated consistency in performance superiority as it was ranked top in the 3-year period ending March 2008 and second in the 2-year period ending March 2008. In terms of resiliency, the fund performed well during times of market corrections or downturns. For example, from 31 December 1997 to 31 December 1998, the period when global bonds were undergoing a downturn, the fund gained 5.5%, while the funds in this category lost 0.9% on average. The expense ratio of the fund was at 1.32% (as at end December 2007), higher than the average annual expense ratio of 1.18% of its peers. This fund invests in Singapore and international bonds and other high quality interest rate securities. As at end April 2008, 45.4% of its assets were invested in Singapore.

Global bond funds are good medium to long-term investments that investors may consider placing in their core portfolios to balance out their equity and bond allocations. Bond movements typically have very low correlation with equity movements, thus the fund may be suitable for more conservative investors. This fund can form part of the core bond portion of a conservative or balanced portfolio. The fund is denominated in SGD and about half its portfolio is made up of Singapore fixed income, mitigating currency risks for the investor.

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From March 2001 to March 2008, the annualised return for Aberdeen Global Opportunities Fund was 14.0%. This performance figure is much stronger than its peers’ average annualised return of 11.2%. The fund demonstrated consistency in performance superiority as it was ranked second in 2007 and 2008. In terms of resiliency, the fund was not the strongest performer during times of market corrections or downturns. However, the expense ratio of the fund was at 1.6% (as at 31 March 2008) - lower than the average annual expense ratio of 1.83% of its peers.

This fund invests into equities across the world and benefits from global diversification. It is thus less volatile compared to more focused equity funds due to this approach, and is suitable for investors who take a long-term view of global equity markets but do not wish to consider country or sector allocations of a fund. The fund is denominated in SGD but investors should note their currency exposure will be mitigated due to the fact that this fund is globally diversified.

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From March 2003 to March 2008, the annualised return for DBS Shenton Global Opportunities Fund is 21.8%. This performance figure is much stronger than its peers’ average annualised return of 11.7%. In the past five years ending March 2008, the fund demonstrated consistency in performance superiority as it ranked first in the calendar years 2007 and 2008. It ranked first over 2-year to 5-year periods. In terms of resiliency, the fund was not the strongest performer as its performance during the periods that exhibited strong volatility was below the average level of our global equity funds. The annual expense ratio of the fund was 1.62% (as at end March 2008) - lower than the average expense ratio of 1.83% of its peers.

This fund invests into equities across the world and benefits from global diversification. It is thus less volatile compared to more focused equity funds, and is suitable for investors who take a long term view of global equity markets but do not wish to consider country or sector allocations of a fund. The fund is denominated in SGD but investors should note their currency exposure will be mitigated due to the fact that this fund is globally diversified.

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From March 2004 to March 2008, the Schroder Global Smaller Companies Fund delivered an annualised return of 6.2%, ranking it first in the category. The fund’s performance has been strong in recent years; its yearly returns ranked first in three out of the past four years. In the market downturn from 1 November 2007 till 31 March 2008, the fund showed a higher level of resiliency, falling 19.7% in comparison to its peers’ fall of 27.4%. Its annual expense ratio of 2.11% (as at end December 2007) is a tad lower than its peers.

This fund invests into the equities of smaller companies across the globe and benefits from global diversification, hence the recommended inclusion into the core portfolio. Investors should note that owing to the fact that the fund’s focus on smaller-sized companies, such companies can be riskier than the blue chips that typically make up other funds’ portfolios, as smaller-sized companies may be more volatile during periods of poor market sentiment and economic downturns. The fund may be suitable for more aggressive investors who do not mind taking on higher risks for potentially higher returns. While the fund is denominated in SGD, the investor’s currency risk is widely diversified away owing to the global nature of this fund.

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From March 2002 to March 2008, the annualised return for Henderson Global Technology Fund was -2.1%, more resilient than its peers’ average annualised return of -4.0%. In the past six years, the fund demonstrated consistency in performance superiority as it was ranked top for cumulative return over 6-years, 5-years, 4-years, 2-years and ranked second for cumulative return over 3 years and 1 year. During the market correction, which lasted from 26 December 2007 to 17 March 2008, the fund lost -24.1%, which is higher than the average of -22.8%. Nonetheless, we think that there are still certain merits to the fund. These include its strong performance during market upturns. The expense ratio, as at 31 December 2007, was 2.61% which is above the average for global technology funds.

This fund invests into global technology stocks, and should be part of an investor’s supplementary portfolio, as it has a narrower focus being a sector fund, although it has a larger geographical diversification due to its fund mandate. Volatility figures for technology funds are also higher as prices of technology equities often exhibit high sensitivity to the markets they are listed on. The fund is denominated in SGD and the investor’s currency exposure is spread across the various currencies of the equities that the fund invests into.

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Among the regional China funds, First State Regional China Fund’s performance ranked either first or second over 1-year, 2-years, 4-years, 5-years and 6-years time horizons ended March 2008. From March 2002 to March 2008, the fund posted an annualised 18.6% returns. With a volatile start of 2008, the fund showed strong resilience retreated less than most of its peers in this category. The resilience over the longer term was also above the average. The 1.88% (as of end March 2008) expense ratio is comparable to the sector’s average of 1.8%.

This fund should be part of an investor’s supplementary portfolio, investing into equities in the Greater China region of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It also has a higher exposure to the Taiwan bourse. Volatility figures for the Greater China equity funds tend to be higher than Asia ex-Japan equity funds owing to a more concentrated geographical allocation into these three markets. The fund is denominated in SGD but the investor will experience currency exposure to the various currencies of the Greater China region.

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HSBC GIF Chinese Equity has shown consistent long-term performance ahead of its peers. The fund delivered top performance in a 6-year time period ended March 2008. From end March 2002 to end March 2008, the fund posted an annualised 21.1% return. In terms of calendar year returns, over a six-year period, the fund ranked first or second in five years. The fund, however, was only average in terms of resiliency. The expense ratio of 1.89% (as at end September 2007) is close to the average of 1.8% for this sector.

This fund should be part of an investor’s supplementary portfolio, as it invests primarily into companies that operate in Mainland China but are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Volatility figures for the Greater China equity funds tend to be higher than Asia ex-Japan equity funds owing to a more concentrated geographical allocation into these three markets. The fund is denominated in SGD but the investor has a currency exposure into the various currencies of the Greater China region.

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This fund is one of the few high yield funds that give a monthly payout. It invests primarily into European corporate high yield bonds. High yield bonds are those rated below ‘BBB-‘ by Standard & Poor’s and ‘Baa3’ by Moody’s. Rating agencies evaluate bond issuers and assign ratings based on their assessment of the issuer’s ability to pay interest and principal as scheduled. The main risk of such funds is the overall default risk of companies. If default risks rise, prices of high yield bonds may decline further or remain suppressed. In the past fifteen months (through March 2008), the bond fund paid an average monthly yield of 0.53% or an annualised yield of 6.5%. The fund manager invests into a diversified portfolio of high yield European corporate bonds. The annual distribution share class for the fund is also available for investment.

Fixed income funds that exhibit greater volatility, such as this one, could be placed into the supplementary portion - which is a smaller portion of the overall portfolio. This fund can potentially help to improve the returns of a fixed income portfolio because of its higher yield but the prices of high yields tend to be more correlated to equities than bond funds in other classes. As this fund invests largely in European high yield bonds, investors are exposed to the risk that the EUR will depreciate against the SGD.

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This fund can invest 30% to 70% in US high yield and 30% to 70% in Asian bonds; the fund can also invest 20% in other Asia Pacific investments including investment trusts, dividend-yielding equities and any sub-funds of International Opportunities funds. There is annual payout version of the fund which gives dividends of 5.5%, 5.1% and 4.9% for 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. We like the fund because the fund manager can potentially diversify the exposure of fixed income funds between US high yield and Asian fixed income. The annual distribution share class for the fund is also available for investment.

Fixed income funds that exhibit greater volatility, such as this one, can be placed into the supplementary portion. This fund can potentially help improve the returns of a fixed income portfolio because of its higher yield but the prices of high yields tend to be more correlated to equities than bond funds in other classes. This fund invests largely in Asian bonds and US high yield bonds, investors are exposed to the risk that the Asian or US currency that this fund invests in would depreciate against the SGD.