Newsletter:

Subject:	New Market View and Portfolio changes
Date:	12 Sep 03

---

EQUINOX.co.za chairman Heiko van Wyngaarden has written a new market update. He draws attention to the possible end of the 14-year Japanese bear market, acknowledging that while government finances are a mess, Japanese consumer saving remains high.

This, he notes is the opposite of the US where returns over the next decade are likely to be modest.

"It is entirely possible that the 'engine' of the world economy becomes a nexus of Japan and China over the next decade," he writes. He therefore recommends that 15% of the "Speculators Portfolio should be invested in the Sanlam Asia Pacific Fund.

Other changes to the recommended portfolios include increased allocations to equity funds and a move away from the more defensive property investments.

Not much news has been generated by the unit trust industry in recent months, but there has been lots of behind-the-scenes consolidation as two of the biggest unit trust management companies, Stanlib and Nedcor Retail Investments attend to the details of merging funds and switching to new administrative platforms. The Nedcor merger has required fairly intensive communication with EQUINOX.co.za clients. Thank you to those clients who have responded promptly to requests for ballot forms.

Kind regards,
The EQUINOX.co.za team

---

'Is the good news priced into retail stocks?' asks Fairheads
Rate cuts are usually spark renewed interest in equites, and the first to rally tend to be retail stocks. Peter Urbani of Fairheads shares some interesting retail trends.

More at http://www.equinox.co.za/article_518.html

---

Rate Cut: Good for Equity Unit Trusts Exposed to Domestic Economy
Yesterday (Wednesday 10th September) the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut the repo rate by 1%. The policy rate is now 10%.

More at http://www.equinox.co.za/article_517.html

---

Sanlam: Hungry to become the investment house of choice
Sanlam Collective Investments’ new MD, Tienie van der Mescht was interviewed recently by Finance Week's Leon Kok. This article was reproduced with kind permission from Finance Week.

More at http://www.equinox.co.za/article_514.html

---

CPIX expectations fall 1.5% to 7.5%
According to South Africa's Bureau for Economic Research (BER), average expectations for CPIX (headline consumer inflation less mortgage rates), the measure used by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) for inflation targeting purposes, declined sharply during the third quarter of 2003, particularly for 2003-down by 1.5 percentage points to 7.5% from 9.0% during the second quarter of the year.

More at http://www.equinox.co.za/article_516.html

---

Adre Smit to manage Nedbank Bond Fund
A press release from Nedcor Retail Investments has announced that Adre Smit, current fund manager of the African Harvest Bond Fund, has been appointed the fund manager of the new Nedbank Bond Fund.

More at http://www.equinox.co.za/article_515.html

---

Risks associated with absolute return portfolios
The asset management industry has recently been flooded with so-called 'absolute return' type products. These strategies provide a welcome change from the traditional peer group approach to benchmarking and performance measurement, and could assist trustees to design a mandate that suits their fund's specific liability profile and investment objectives. However, while these portfolios may target absolute returns, they do not offer absolute guarantees of performance.

More at http://www.equinox.co.za/article_513.html

---

Best Regards
The Equinox Team

---