BHP Billiton

Shares in mining giant drop 11%

Strong headwinds for the commodities sector show no sign of abating, but record share price falls for some companies have provided attractive entry points into the asset class.

Buying BHP and Rio Tinto

The prices of core commodities, including oil and iron ore, have plunged in recent years. Michael Hulme, commodity equities fund manager at Carmignac Gestion, analyses the areas still able to offer value as industries consolidate and respond to price...

JO Hambro Capital Management's Clive Beagles has blamed an underweight in defensive stocks for the underperformance of the £2.7bn UK Equity Income fund last year but said he refuses to invest in "bond lookalikes".

Natural resources

UK equity managers say investors are starting to be rewarded by the mega-cap miner turnaround story, despite a mixed round of results from some of the mining giants in the last few weeks.

Mike Felton, manager of the £724m M&G UK Growth fund, is finding some of the best value investment opportunities in the resources sector, saying most of the UK market looks overvalued.

Fund managers are backing miners as a key income play this year, predicting the largest names in the sector will ramp up their dividend payouts after a poor first quarter.

M&G Global Basics' new lead manager Randeep Somel has revealed some of the key holdings he has introduced since taking over from Graham French in November.