Fund manager who beat 98% of peers says stay calm and buy stocks

Joanna Kwok, who co-manages the JPMorgan Asia Growth Fund, says volatility will linger in Asia markets due to trade tensions, corporate earnings concerns

Trade war? Yes. Global slowdown? Yes. Volatile market? Yes. But does that mean investors should cash out and run? Not this top-performing fund manager. She’s staying put. Joanna Kwok, who co-manages the JPMorgan Asia Growth Fund, says volatility will linger in Asia markets due to trade war uncertainty and corporate earnings concerns. Even with the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump and other political risks, investors should hang on as valuations suggest “decent” returns in the next 12 months, she said.

“You just need to be continuously disciplined,” said Kwok,whose fund tracking the MSCI Asia excluding Japan Index has returned 11 per cent year-to-date. “At this valuation, we should be buying not selling.” Kwok’s open-end fund has beaten 98 per cent of peers so far this year and for the past five years, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

After wiping out as much as $1.7 trillion of their value in the recent sell-off, Asia stocks have barely recovered losses triggered by Trump’s threat to impose a 10 per cent tariff on more Chinese imports and concerns of a recession, re-ignited by an inversion in yield curves.