How The Unit Trust Portfolio Works

JOHANNESBURG - Moneyweb has a wealth of FREE data suited to help individuals become better investors, one such tool is the Unit Trust Portfolio Tool. Here's a guide on how to use it...

How do I access the Moneyweb Unit Trust Portfolio Tool?
You can access it by scrolling over the TOOLS bar, see diagram below, and click on Unit trust portfolios. Here you can search by "Listed Company" or by "Unit Trust". You can then sort the results by "Units Changed", "Value Changed" or "% of Fund". The best way to use this tool is to spend some time playing with it. 

 

Why should I use it?
The stock market is driven by a number of factors. Despite investors trying to take emotion and sentiment out of their investment decision these two factors still play a role in the valuation of stock markets and asset prices. In good times, sentiment and emotions are positive and investors drive valuations up. In bad times, sentiment and emotions are negative and investors drive valuations down. The Unit Trust Portfolio Tool is a tool which allows you to see whether the trend is positive or negative on a quarterly basis. The Unit Trust Portfolio Tool is not going to make you rich. You still need to do your own research but it can be used to confirm your investment decisions.

  What interesting information can I discover from the latest data?

  1. You can see what the professionals have been doing in the past quarter and determine whether your thinking and research is similar to some of the reputable asset managers (professionals).
  2. Use it to gauge whether your chosen unit trust manager is bullish or bearish in general (eg, buying or selling in general).
  3. Determine whether there is sector or index rotation happening (eg, moving out of financials into commodities or industrials).
  4. Depending on the research you can see whether UT managers are bullish or bearish on the currency (eg, an unit trust manager investing heavily in rand hedge stocks).
  5. Whether asset managers are moving funds into bonds and money market funds, see Allan Gray Balanced Fund below...

 

 

Can I use the data to buy or sell shares or do I need to do more research?
The data can be used to confirm the research you have done (eg, If you believe Grindrod is a great company and worth investing in and after looking at the Unit Trust Portfolio Tool you see that in the last quarter several asset managers were purchasing and adding Grindrod to their holdings and the share price has continued to fall you know you are purchasing the share at a price below that which the unit trust managers were purchasing it.)

Below you can see that there were actually more asset managers selling Grindrod than buying it in the last quarter of 2009.

If you have any further questions please email monique@moneyweb.co.za

Others who read this also read Moneyweb's Watchlist - how to use it to track your favourite shares and those you plan to buy.