1 Includes net
revenue of 0.18p.
2 Excluding
5,500,000 ordinary shares held in treasury.
3 The Company’s
ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net
assets and using the management fee and all other operating
expenses excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody
transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain other
non-recurring items for the year ended 30 November 2023.
In
addition, the Company’s Manager has also agreed to cap ongoing
charges by rebating a portion of the management fee to the extent
that the Company’s ongoing charges exceed 1.25% of average net
assets.
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Commenting
on the markets, Tom Holl and Mark Hume, representing the Investment
Manager noted:
The
Trust’s NAV returned by 5.0% during the month of December (in GBP
terms).
Global equity
markets performed well in December, subsequently reporting their
strongest year since 2019, following the rally in both November and
December. Whilst inflation has fallen, persistent and robust wage
growth means that it is not yet on track to settle at 2% policy
targets. During the month, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell 19
basis points to 4.02% (the lowest since August) after the Federal
Reserve’s last meeting of the year. Geopolitical fragmentation also
remained a key theme in December. Against this macroeconomic
backdrop, the MSCI All Country World Index returned by
4.7%.
The
mining sector outperformed broader equity markets in December.
Positive data points from China showed that their industrial metal
demand continued to hold up well, whilst their manufacturing PMI
ended the year at 50.8, marginally rising from 50.7 in
November.
Most
mined commodities were up over the month, with copper and iron ore
prices (62% fe) rising by 0.9% and 7.6% respectively. Meanwhile,
precious metals were mixed, with the gold price rising by 1.4%, but
the silver price falling by 4.0%. The gold price also hit a new
high of $2,100 during the month.
Within energy
markets, energy equities displayed mixed performance in December.
Global oil demand appeared to remain strong through December, as it
has throughout 2023, supported by a resilient global economy,
despite efforts by central banks to cool inflation and growth
through higher interest rates. On the oil supply side, non-OPEC
supply growth has been stronger than expected in recent months,
particularly outside of US shale, whilst Russian production
remained higher than expected. An
apparent lack of cohesion within OPEC for its announced oil
production cuts at the beginning of December led to a fading of the
oil price impact from the cuts. Brent and WTI oil prices both fell
by 4.9%, ending the month at $78/bbl and $72/bbl respectively. The
US Henry Hub natural gas price fell by 10.4% during the month to
end at $2.5/mmbtu.
Within the energy
transition theme, SolarPower Europe expected a record 56GW of solar
installations in the EU27 for 2023, which would cap three
consecutive years of 40% growth for solar installations. At the
same time, it was also noted that despite this increase, Europe was
not yet installing the annual 70GW+ viewed as necessary to meet the
bloc’s 2030 target.
Clean
transportation also saw a number of tax clarifications, in the US
around the Inflation Reduction Act and in Europe, with an end to EV
subsidies in Germany, whilst France toughened the rules around
carbon emissions in the manufacturing process, seen a step towards
a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
All data
points in US dollar terms unless otherwise specified. Commodity
price moves sourced from Thomson Reuters
Datastream.
26
January 2024
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Latest
information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/beri on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on
Topic 3 (ICV terminal).
Neither the
contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website
accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or any other
website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this
announcement.
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