There was no Christmas bonus for any of the teams involved in the Rehab Great Investment Race as an end-of-year stock market rally failed to materialise.
Instead, markets around the world ended a bad year on a weak note after a dismal December, when the ISEQ alone lost 9.6 per cent.
This left all six of the fund managers competing in the race, whose proceeds go to the Rehab Group, sitting on losses ranging from 0.1 per cent to 8.5 per cent.
Setanta and Montgomery Oppenheim, which had a large exposure to equity markets, suffered most, posting losses of 8.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively.
Their poor performance over the month dragged them into the red overall, with Setanta recording a loss of 3.9 per cent. "A lot of it was due to currencies," said Setanta's Mr Gary Connolly. "We had a lot of stockholdings in sterling and the dollar."
Both currencies have recently lost ground against the euro.
But Setanta has recouped its losses over the past 10 days and has switched back into a number of euro-zone stocks such as Phillips and Irish Life & Permanent, which it believes is attractively valued.
Montgomery Oppenheim, which has 70 per cent of its money invested in its global equity fund, recorded a loss of 3.3 per cent over the first two months of the race.
But its fund has also bounced back in January and it plans to take a more active approach with a portion of its portfolio in the weeks ahead.
"With the remaining 30 per cent that is in cash, we hope to begin a process of looking for specific stock opportunities," Mr Brian Gray of Montgomery Oppenheim says.
He believes there is money to be made in equity markets over the first quarter of the year but, thereafter, it could again prove difficult.
Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland Asset Management remains in the lead with a gain of 21.4 per cent in the race to date.
The fund manager had a quiet month, sticking with its sole shareholding, Greencore.
Hibernian, which remains in second place overall with a return of 9.6 per cent, made only one switch during the month, shifting out of bonds and into Irish equities halfway through December.
"Expecting an end-of-year rally, we moved back into the Irish equity market but we went in a little early and lost 3 per cent," says Hibernian's Mr Dara Fitzgerald.
With bond gains earlier in the month, its fund ended December 1.4 per cent lower. The fund manager remains invested in Irish equities but is adopting a cautious approach.
"We are staying close to home with the currency and a market we know well," Mr Fitzgerald says.
The best performer over the course of past month was KBC Asset Management, which managed to confine its losses to 0.1 per cent, leaving it with a gain of 1.9 per cent to date.
KBC's Mr David Green said that, in the face of market volatility, it had invested only 25 per cent of its cash in equities, keeping the rest in fixed-interest assets.
"We are more happy with the way things are now and are looking for opportunities on downward dips," he said.
Also holding his fire is Mr Seamus Magner of Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), who has 70 per cent of his fund in cash and plans to keep it there until markets "steady".
He lost 5.4 per cent in December, hit by his shareholding in mobile phone operator Orange.
jmosullivan@irish-times.ie
