Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 27 September 2024

We reveal the biggest investment trust discount changes over the past week.

27th September 2024 11:48

Investment trusts, due to their closed-ended structure, offer investors the chance of picking up a potential bargain. Such an opportunity arises when a trust’s share price is lower than the underlying investments held by the trust (the net asset value, or NAV).

However, a trust trading on a discount to NAV is not necessarily a buying opportunity. There’s likely a good reason why the trust is cheap, such as subdued short- or long-term performance, or poor investor sentiment towards how it invests.

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In our weekly series, interactive investor highlights the 10 biggest investment trust discount moves over the past week. We publish this article every Friday, using data up to the close of trading the previous day.

In total, nearly 400 investment trusts have been screened, with the data sourced from Morningstar. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have been excluded. We also strip out trusts with less than £20 million in assets and those that are not available on the interactive investor platform.

The biggest discount riser over the past week is Gulf Investment Fund (LSE:GIF), an investment trust that’s put forward proposals to shareholders for it to be wound up. Our columnist Ian Cowie, who holds GIF in his “forever fund”, recently said that the proposed closure is shame, due to its strong performance and because the trust is the only strategy investing in this part of the world.

Various other specialist strategies make this week’s table, with Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets (LSE:AWEM) and Fidelity Japan Trust (LSE:FJV) in second and third positions respectivel,y having seen their discounts widen by more than four percentage points over the past week.

Investment trust	Sector	Current discount (%)	*Discount/premium change over past week (%)**
Gulf Investment Fund (LSE:GIF)	Global Emerging Markets	-7.6	-4.80
Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets (LSE:AWEM)	Global Emerging Markets	-7.5	-4.50
Fidelity Japan Trust (LSE:FJV)	Japan	-17.2	-4.40
Ecofin Global Utilities & Infrastructure (LSE:EGL)	Infrastructure Securities	-13.6	-3.90
LMS Capital (LSE:LMS)	Private Equity	-55	-3.80
Molten Ventures (LSE:GROW)	Growth Capital	-44.7	-3.60
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure (LSE:FGEN)	Renewable Energy Infrastructure	-19.2	-3.40
Geiger Counter (LSE:GCL)	Commodities & Natural Resources	-17.7	-3.30
RM Infrastructure Income (LSE:RMII)	Debt - Direct Lending	-17.2	-3.20
Schroders Capital Global Innov Trust (LSE:INOV)	Growth Capital	-57.5	-3.10

Source: Morningstar. *Data from close of trading 19 September 2024 to close of trading 26 September 2024.

These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.

Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.

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