@peejay2,ALF is market neutral (2.9% long to be precise at last...

@peejay2,

ALF is market neutral (2.9% long to be precise at last NTA announcement) so their short positions should almost balance their long positions.  They make their money on guessing which stocks should go further than others in both the long and the short positions.

So in the recent small dip there is no intrinsic reason they will make money.  I fact there 2.9% long position will weight on their overall NTA performance because of the market dip.  That assumes they did not change the weighting before the sell off started.

The next NTA announce will tell us if they think the market is a good buy or if they think it should drop further.  If their long position grows from 2.9% then they have moved to be more bullish.  If it drops into short territory (less than zero) then they think their is more dip to drop.  Unfortunately we will not know that until around the 14th November.

I am more interested in the numbers than the commentary.  If the boss reads hot copper then he may not point out all the risks, which are common with all the other LICs.

Happy investing.