Each of the diversified funds produced a similar negative return during October but for different reasons – NZ equities fell back by over 1.2% to hurt the performance of the funds that have more growth asset exposure, and bond markets sold off to hurt the performance of the more defensive/income orientated portfolios. However, the broad theme for the month was generally more positive economic data and improving prospects on the initial trade agreement between China and US helping to explain the increase in bond yields and the subsequent fall in value. Developed global equity markets were generally positive in aggregate.  More specifically, the US and Japanese markets were positive (up 2.5% and 5.4% respectively), but the UK was down 2.2. The reason for the softer performance in NZ was largely due to the specific sell off in the energy sector following uncertainty around Rio Tinto’s comments on its commitment to the aluminium smelting plant near Invercargill and associated impact on electricity demand.  In addition …