Market Commentary and Fund Performance

Performance data quoted represents past performance; past performance does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance of the fund may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. Performance data current to the most recent month end, and standardized performance can be obtained by viewing the fact sheet or by clicking here.

Fund Performance Review

In July, the Fund returned 3.30% (HJPIX), underperforming its benchmark, the Russell/Nomura Total Market™ Index, which returned 6.15%.

The month’s positive performers among the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sectors included shares of Financials, Industrials and Materials, while Information Technology and Communication Services detracted from the Fund’s performance.

Among the best performers were our investments in Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Japan’s largest chemical company, ORIX Corporation, Japan’s largest non-bank comprehensive financial services company, and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, one of the leading non-life insurance companies in Japan.

As for the laggards, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Japan’s largest semiconductor maker specializing in MCUs and analog chips, Tokyo Electron Limited, one of the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment, and Socionext Inc., a fabless semiconductor vendor involved in the development, design and sales of custom SoC (system on a chip) were the largest detractors.

For this month’s letter, we are going to write about ORIX, one of the largest positions we have slowly built since our first introduction in the summer of 2022.

Read more about ORIX here.

Past updates on this name can be found here:

• July 2022 Commentary

• Feb 2023 Commentary

Click here for a full listing of Holdings.