Murray International trust rues US and Japan underweights

The board of the £1.3bn Murray International Trust has blamed "significant" underweights to North America and Japan for underperformance in the first half of 2013.

Net asset value returns for the six months to 30 June 2013 were 9.3%, compared with a total return of 12.4% on the trust's benchmark - 40% the FTSE World UK and 60% FTSE World ex-UK. Over the six-month period the share price rose by 9%, reflecting a very small reduction in the premium to net asset value on which the shares traded. The trust's premium remained stable at 7.3%, compared to 7.4% for the second half of 2012. "By far the largest contributing factors to relative benchmark underperformance were the respective allocations to Latin America and North America," said chairman K...