Hoping everyone is well during this odd, rain disrupted, Easter and holiday-filled April! We are hard at work and have some very exciting news coming your way in the next couple of months, so please look out for that.

In the meantime, please see Brendan and the PMX team's thorough commentary of both the local and global markets for the first quarter of this year (two separate reports below).

Sending love to you and yours,
Richard and the F&A Team

This piece was compiled by Brendan de Jongh, SA Head of Research at PortfolioMetrix.

Overall, the first quarter saw generally poor market performance across most asset classes, with the main exception of commodities and commodity exposed equities and regions (like South Africa). Commodities tend to benefit from higher inflation, but prices rose further because of shortages resulting from sanctions on commodity exporting Russia after their invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine plays an important role in commodity markets too with it making up 15% of global grain exports and, prior to the invasion, was considered a true world leader in agricultural exports as “the breadbasket of Europe”.

Local Fund Commentary

Provides a commentary on the past quarter, its events and their impacts; as well as more intimate commentary on each moving part within your portfolios.

Global Fund Commentary

Provides intimate commentary on each moving part within your portfolios.