Differences between Asia Pacific and Western market downturns

Fiona Barwick, Director of Regional Research of the Lincoln Far East Trust at Mondrian Investment Partners comments: "Asia Pacific governments are generally in a strong fiscal position with low levels of indebtedness and packages have been announced recently to try and stimulate growth. In China we have seen the largest package amounting to around 14% of GDP, whilst controls on bank lending have been relaxed. In Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand fiscal stimulus of between 2 - 4% of GDP have been proposed.

"Although the economic environment remains extremely difficult, we believe that in the Asia Pacific region the downturn is more likely to be cyclical rather than the structural adjustments the Western world must make. The short term will see downward revisions to growth, but the longer term story for Asia remains intact."

The investment strategy for the Far East Trust is as follows:

a strong value-stock orientation
overweight positions in the value markets of Hong Kong and Taiwan
underweight in India.

Stuart Tyler, Senior Investment Analyst at Lincoln Financial Group comments: "Considering the recent market conditions, the defensive qualities of the Lincoln Far East trust are really adding value for investors at the moment. The trust has significantly outperformed its peers over the last year whilst markets have remained volatile, and Mondrian's consistent and highly disciplined investment process is ideal in this tough economic environment."