Following the significant pull back in equity markets during October, the month of November saw somewhat calmer markets with generally positive returns in most sectors.  One exception from the major market sectors was commodities within which there was a 20% fall in the oil price during the month – however, the Nikko AM funds do not have any direct commodity exposures. Within our investments, the largest move came from currency which led to a significant divergence in performance between hedged and unhedged foreign currency assets, with the strength of the NZ dollar causing unhedged assets to lose 4-5% of their value in NZ dollar terms. At the diversified fund level most of the foreign currency exposure is generated through unhedged global equities, resulting in the higher growth funds slightly underperforming the more defensive funds ..