Bolton’s trust buys back another 750,000 shares

The board of Anthony Bolton’s Fidelity China Special Situations fund has bought back a further 750,000 shares in a bid to narrow its discount.

The trust, which is currently trading at a discount of 4.4% according to Winterflood, purchased the shares for cancellation yesterday at a price of 72.33p per share.

The repurchase is the trust's third such buyback in the past four months. The fund bought back 100,000 shares at a price of 83.25p per share on 6 September last year, when the trust's discount stood at around 4.3%.

A second buyback soon followed on 8 September, when the trust's board announced an additional buyback of 350,000 shares priced at 85.63p per share.

China Special Situations saw its NAV fall by some 31.2% in the 12 months to 30 November last year, data from the Association of Investment Companies shows, as sentiment on China suffered a sharp about turn.

Bolton said last month he was still a believer in the China investment case and expected slowing inflation to support Chinese markets this year.

The manager, who is backing the consumption and services sectors to outperform the wider economy, said the next 12 months would represent "the defining moment" for China.