Gartmore's Japanese long/short equity AlphaGen fund was one of the firm's top performers last year despite market conditions that hampered the strategy. The US dollar and yen classes returned 17.1% and 15.9% for the full year 2003.
John Stewart manages the fund from Tokyo. He says that in addition to challenges for the long/short equity strategy generally, liquidity in the Japanese market is very low, with most foreign investors sitting on the sidelines.
A trade the fund made last year exemplifies the way it is managed, says Stewart. "We became interested in the re-emerging Chinese demand theme following a visit to a...
