Positive performances thanks

The global markets, after some initial weakness on uncertainty over the Fed's first rate hike and a weak Chinese economy, recovered on the back of some dovish comments from Janet Yellen, and growing speculation that China was getting serious in supporting its economy. Emerging equities slightly outperformed the developed markets, not least thanks to Asia posting a slightly positive return.

China recovered on several announcements ("enough room to act", property measures, massive infrastructure plans, deposit insurance, ...), while India saw profit-taking on some disappointing macro data despite an early rate cut. Korea surprised positively following an interest-rate cut that supported several domestic stocks, including Samsung Electronics.

Latin America fell strongly, with most markets losing but especially Brazil due to the Petrobras scandal, macro and budget deterioration and the oil price, which all pushed stocks and the currency down.

Despite a nice performance from Hungary and the Russian market (helped by a rate cut and a very strong Ruble), Emerging Europe remained weak as Turkey suffered a strong correction on political infighting and a falling Lira, and Greece gave up February's gains on the continuing financial and political problems with the EU and the IMF.

• During a volatile month, with massive performance dispersion among markets and sectors, we managed to show a flat performance against our benchmark, thanks to a well-diversified portfolio and the strong performance of several of our conviction-based stock positions, not least in the technology sector, which lost ground during the February rally. Some weakness in the healthcare sector and some stock-specific movements limited the outperformance.
• 2015 continues to show a complex environment for emerging markets as, besides external factors (the dollar, the oil price, monetary policy in the developed countries, geopolitics), local politics and reform expectations (not least of all in China) will remain critical drivers of divergence in stock-market performance and earnings expectations.
• We therefore remain prudent in our overall allocations and focused on quality and sustainable growth in our stock selection, while continuing to pay attention to (rotational) risk through a well-diversified and balanced portfolio.