(Bloomberg) -- One of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s top emerging-market equity funds boosted its bet on Asian stocks during the tumultuous first quarter.
The $1.8 billion Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Equity Fund, managed by Basak Yavuz and Hiren Dasani, increased its wagers on some of the region’s biggest technology companies. Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. make up about 25% of their portfolio from 23% in late December, according to filings as of March 31.
While it’s unclear when exactly the fund added to its Asian equity exposure, the portfolio’s 17% drop in March marked the biggest monthly loss since late 2008. Still, the fund has topped 82% of peers this past year and 89% over five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the past month, it has rebounded by 7.6% compared with 6.9% for MSCI’s emerging-market stock index.
Patrick Scanlan, a spokesman at Goldman, declined to comment.
Asian tech giants got hammered in a global rout fueled by the coronavirus. But some stocks have rebounded as a surge in Internet usage from people sheltering in place compensated for declining demand for consumer electronics.
China ranks as the Goldman fund’s top country bet, representing more than one-third of the portfolio, followed by South Korea, India and Taiwan.
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