An analysis of local and Asia Pacific unit trusts

• Main Authors: Foo, Yih Ching, Ho, Kuen Kuen, Teo, Eng Kiat
• Other Authors: Tan Khye Chong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/59478
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In recent years, the accumulation of wealth has spurred Singaporean to invest their excess income in equity-related investment. Among the various avenues of investment, unit trusts have been gaining popularity. It is this growing recognition that prompts the initiation of this study. The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance, the persistence of unit trusts' performance and the degree of diversification of 15 local and 6 Asia Pacific funds over a five year period. Comparisons are then made on the performance of both types of funds. The performance measures used in the study include the Sharpe Index, Treynor Index and Jensen Index. In order to evaluate their consistency of performance ranking, the funds were ranked yearly using the Sharpe Index. The Spearman rank correlation was then computed for each pair of years. The results of this study show that both the local and Asia Pacific funds outperformed the market. The local funds were found to be highly diversified. The Asia Pacific funds, however, were found to be poorly diversified. Last of all, both types of funds were found to be inconsistent in their performance ranking.