Out of all the major developed markets the one that tends to get the least attention is Japan, which is perhaps understandable given the persistent deflationary environment and low investment returns.
If there was a good time to seek for yield during the last few years, it is now. Since bottoming during the pandemic, bond yields have been rising quite fast.
It has been a challenging few days for investors with the markets unsettled by a couple of unexpected events.
The headline numbers reported by real estate investment trusts make for scary reading. NAV down 13.9% at AEW UK REIT in the final quarter of 2022, 21.5% at UK Commercial Property REIT, and several others posting similar declines.
Last year was a disappointing one for investors in the four billion pound RIT Capital Partners Trust, which reported a loss of 13.3% in its annual accounts to the end of December.
It has been a turbulent period for investors in UK small cap funds with the sector powering ahead on the re-opening trade after the pandemic, but then giving back most of the gains in the face of higher interest rate.
Nick Sudbury runs down some of the highest yielding funds currently available on the market.
In its interim results for the 6 months to the end of December the popular City of London Trust made an NAV total return of 4.5%, marginally behind the FTSE All-Share benchmark.
Cordiant Digital invests in the critical infrastructure of the modern internet, including cloud and data centres, mobile and broadcast towers, as well as fibre optics networks.
Last year was a painful one for investors in Smithson, whose annual results to the end of December revealed an NAV total return of -28.1%, which was almost 20% behind its MSCI World Small and Mid-Cap benchmark.
