SUMMARY
The March quarter was a tough quarter for global and domestic equities. March itself was particularly brutal resulting in most asset prices falling heavily as the impact of the global pandemic instilled panic selling.
The Pengana Australian Equities Fund entered the quarter with a defensive position on three levels:
– 14% in cash
– significant insurance through Puts, and
– what we felt were resilient equities.
Additionally, our activity during the beginning of the quarter was dominated by the trimming of our exceptional winners including CSL, Cleanaway, Credit Corp and JB Hifi at what, in hindsight, were exceptional prices. We also added significant insurance through Puts and gold company Evolution Mining.
While the Fund outperformed the market (which was down 24% for the quarter), we were not immune to the significant fall in share prices. The fund closed the quarter down 20%, with most of the damage being done during March, which was down 19%. The latter represents our worst month since the start of the Fund.
We have included below a recording of a recent webinar we hosted which provides a look into how we are thinking about the current market conditions, and we have also provided our full quarterly commentary available in this report HERE.