Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>MENA remains a structural underweight, absent in nearly 25% of EM funds, though participation has climbed to a decade high with 75.9% of EM funds now holding positions.</li>
<li>UAE has overtaken Saudi as the largest allocation, supported by inflows into Real Estate and Financials; Saudi remains underweight, while Qatar and Kuwait attract little investor interest.</li>
<li>Emaar, Al Rajhi, Aldar, and Saudi National Bank anchor MENA exposure, with second-tier growth from ADCB, Emirates NBD, and UAE Energy sectors.</li>
</ul>


MENA remains a structural underweight, absent in nearly 25% of EM funds, though participation has climbed to a decade high with 75.9% of EM funds now holding positions.
UAE has overtaken Saudi as the largest allocation, supported by inflows into Real Estate and Financials; Saudi remains underweight, while Qatar and Kuwait attract little investor interest.
Emaar, Al Rajhi, Aldar, and Saudi National Bank anchor MENA exposure, with second-tier growth from ADCB, Emirates NBD, and UAE Energy sectors.


MENA: From Structural Underweight to Selective Rebuild

<ul>
<li>2023 Marks a Pivotal Year with EM Investors Significantly Increasing Holdings in the Saudi Market.</li>
<li>Despite Growing Interest, the Saudi Market Still Presents Ample Room for Broader Investor Engagement.</li>
<li>Saudi Arabia Remains Comparatively 'under-Owned' in Relation to Its Asian and LATAM Peers.</li>
</ul>


2023 Marks a Pivotal Year with EM Investors Significantly Increasing Holdings in the Saudi Market.
Despite Growing Interest, the Saudi Market Still Presents Ample Room for Broader Investor Engagement.
Saudi Arabia Remains Comparatively 'under-Owned' in Relation to Its Asian and LATAM Peers.


Saudi Arabia Special Report: A Tipping Point in EM Equity Allocations

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>An ad hoc <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/s-p-asx-200" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22901:1" rel="noopener">S&amp;P/ASX 200 (AS51 INDEX)</a> rebalance will be implemented at the close on 17 October with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/light-wonder-inc-7e7d040f-e811-4fb9-9710-796a39af299e" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:40171:1" rel="noopener">Light &amp; Wonder (LNW AU)</a> replacing <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/united-malt-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29116:1" rel="noopener">United Malt Group Ltd (UMG AU)</a>. </li>
<li>The rebalances of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wisdomtree-emerging-markets-146edc02-f8a5-4ac5-968b-5f0f7c89e476" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32683:1" rel="noopener">Wisdomtree Emerging Markets (DEM US)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wisdomtree-em-small-cap" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32679:1" rel="noopener">Wisdomtree Em Small Cap (DGS US)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wisdmtree-emerg-mkt-ex-st-ow" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32798:1" rel="noopener">Wisdmtree Emerg Mkt Ex-St Ow (XSOE US)</a> will be implemented on 18 October.</li>
<li>There were net outflows from onshore China ETFs with inflows to larger cap ETFs and outflows mainly from the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/csi-smallcap-500-index-shang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:35347:1" rel="noopener">CSI Smallcap 500 Index</a> and CSI 1000 Index trackers.</li>
</ul>


An ad hoc S&amp;P/ASX 200 (AS51 INDEX) rebalance will be implemented at the close on 17 October with Light &amp; Wonder (LNW AU) replacing United Malt Group Ltd (UMG AU). 
The rebalances of Wisdomtree Emerging Markets (DEM US), Wisdomtree Em Small Cap (DGS US) and Wisdmtree Emerg Mkt Ex-St Ow (XSOE US) will be implemented on 18 October.
There were net outflows from onshore China ETFs with inflows to larger cap ETFs and outflows mainly from the CSI Smallcap 500 Index and CSI 1000 Index trackers.


Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: HSCEI, HSTECH, TOPIX FFW, SSE50, AS51, ChiNext, Kenedix, Liontown

<ul>
<li>The WisdomTree Emerging Markets ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index measures the performance of emerging markets stocks that are not state-owned enterprises.</li>
<li>The October rebalance will result in a one-way turnover of ~16% and in a one-way trade of US$329m. There are 16 stocks with over US$3m to trade.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hdfc-bank-ltd-4b6b7a92-9087-468d-9dbe-ab169e77f014" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:558:1" rel="noopener">HDFC Bank (HDFCB IN)</a> will be added to the index while there will be selling in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/taiwan-semiconductor-manufacturing-company" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11230:1" rel="noopener">Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) (2330 TT)</a>.</li>
</ul>


The WisdomTree Emerging Markets ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index measures the performance of emerging markets stocks that are not state-owned enterprises.
The October rebalance will result in a one-way turnover of ~16% and in a one-way trade of US$329m. There are 16 stocks with over US$3m to trade.

HDFC Bank (HDFCB IN) will be added to the index while there will be selling in Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) (2330 TT).


WisdomTree Emerging Markets Ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index Rebalance: 16% Turnover, US$660m Trade

Relative to the benchmark index, Saudi Arabia is the 2nd largest country underweight in EM.  On average, GEM active managers are underweight Saudi by -2.49%, with 79% of funds not invested at all. However, the outlook is changing.  Since July of last year, 3.3% of the 241 funds in our analysis opened new exposures in Saudi Arabia, combined with $226m of net inflows, pushing allocations to their highest ever levels.This analysis looks at the current ownership picture in Saudi Arabia among global emerging market investors.

Relative to the benchmark index, Saudi Arabia is the 2nd largest country underweight in EM.  On average, GEM active managers are underweight Saudi by -2.49%, with 79% of funds not invested at all. However, the outlook is changing.  Since July of last year, 3.3% of the 241 funds in our analysis opened new exposures in Saudi Arabia, combined with $226m of net inflows, pushing allocations to their highest ever levels.This analysis looks at the current ownership picture in Saudi Arabia among global emerging market investors.

Saudi Arabia

Alinma Bank is a Shariah law-compliant, commercial Islamic bank.

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Alinma Bank (ALINMA AB)

MENA: From Structural Underweight to Selective Rebuild

MENA stays structurally underweight but participation is rising, led by UAE and Saudi. Real Estate and Financials drive inflows, with Emaar, Al...

Steven Holden

Saudi Arabia Special Report: A Tipping Point in EM Equity Allocations

EM investors significantly increase holdings in the Saudi market, but Saudi Arabia remains comparatively 'under-owned' in relation to its Asian and...

Steven Holden

Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: HSCEI, HSTECH, TOPIX FFW, SSE50, AS51, ChiNext, Kenedix, Liontown

This recap highlights Insights covering Asian index rebalances (announcements/ forecasts/ IPO Fast Entry/ M&A driven changes). We also highlight...

Brian Freitas

WisdomTree Emerging Markets Ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index Rebalance: 16% Turnover, US$660m Trade

There are 157 adds/79 deletes for the WisdomTree Emerging Markets ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index. One-way turnover is 16% resulting in a one-way...

Brian Freitas

Saudi Arabia: Scaling New Heights

Saudi Arabia is the 2nd largest country underweight in EM. On average, GEM active managers are underweight Saudi by -2.49%, with 79% of funds not...

Steven Holden

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