Newton's Pidcock bemoans 'baffling' New Zealand as performance slumps

Exposure to New Zealand caused the £4.4bn Newton Asian Income fund to significantly underperform its peers in November, as unexpected political risks rocked the local market.

The fund has fallen by 7.3% from 31 October to 3 December, versus a fall of 3.7% for the benchmark FTSE AW Asia Pacific ex-Japan index, according to manager Jason Pidcock. Many of the losses were caused by an episode involving New Zealand telecommunications company Chorus, which has fallen 47.5% since October after an apparent government U-turn over copper price controls. The manager's other New Zealand holdings, such as utilities Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power, as well as Z Energy and Telecom New Zealand, were also impacted by the fallout from the affair. Pidcock (picture...