Ascenta Asset Management releases their market commentary for the Special Situations Resource Fund Factsheet of March 2012.

Ebene, Mauritius -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/15/2012 -- Ascenta Asset Management, a licensed portfolio manager and investment advisor to the Ascenta Special Situations Resource Fund, recently released their market commentary for their Special Situations Resource Fund for the month of March 2012. The market commentary is written by Jason Cubbit, Managing Director Fund Services.

"March saw an end to the recent rally as weaker economic data from China and Europe captured the market's attention, and commodity-heavy markets including Canada's suffered downward pressure. Meanwhile the US market continued to buck the trend with better than expected economic data. New York's S&P 500 Index rose 3.1% in March while Toronto's S&P TSX Composite declined 2.0%. Canadian energy stocks lost 6.9% and the materials sector lost 7.8%. This pattern continued across markets with the Commodity Index (CRB), which tracks eighteen commodities, losing 4.3%.

As part of this pull-back in commodity equities, the Ascenta Special Situations Resource Fund lost 6.18% in March. This loss, however, comes after gains in the three previous months and the Ascenta Fund recorded healthy gains for the quarter ending March 31. It out-performed the MSCI Metals and Mining index benchmark as illustrated below.

The path ahead promises plenty of opportunity for gains albeit against a backdrop of continued volatility. Indeed, since the inception of this fund in Q4 2009, we have been investing in a highly volatile environment. Institutional investors have moved in and out of equities as their attitude to risk swung like a pendulum in line with their analysis of general market conditions. Q1 2012 saw more optimism and equities began to find their way back into investor portfolios, with US economic data being a significant contributor to this sentiment. However, this has now reversed.

Guessing when that pendulum might swing back is impossible but preparing for it is necessary. Fortunately relatively low risk stocks like gold producers are still trading at historically low prices and offer a relatively safe haven. Consequently we sold some of our more illiquid small holdings and have bought into larger ones."

About Ascenta Asset Management Ltd.
Ascenta Asset Management Ltd. is a licensed portfolio manager and the designated advisor to the Ascenta Special Situations Resource Fund. As specialists in the natural resource sector, the founders of Ascenta bring a wealth of experience in all experience in all aspects of the industry, from the founding of natural resource companies, to proprietary trading and equity financing of natural resource issuers, to originating investment themes and products for money managers, It's this diverse experience, gained over decades and across five continents that gives Ascenta a unique perspective to investing in the sector.

For more information of the Ascenta Special Situations Resource Fund, visit the website
http://www.ascentainternational.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Ascenta Asset Management releases their market commentary for the Special Situations Resource Fund Factsheet of January 2012.

Ebene, Mauritius -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/07/2012 -- Ascenta Asset Management, a licensed portfolio manager and investment advisor to the Ascenta Special Situations Resource Fund, recently released their market commentary for their Special Situations Resource Fund for the month of January 2012. The market commentary is written by Jason Cubbit, Managing Director Fund Services.

"January saw a continued US equities recovery with the Dow Jones rising over 15% since October 1st. This was despite the European financial crisis and threats of global slowdown.

Standard and Poor downgraded most European countries and many European banks with exposure to Greek debt. China restored some calm amid concern over its slowing rate of growth - the slowest since Q2 2009 - by easing monetary policy. US investors had good reason to see less risk given a growth in jobs and corporate profits, a continuing low interest rate environment and the strengthening consumer confidence.

Neighboring Canada's resource-heavy indices shared some of this optimism, gaining about half of the US gains. This means that there is still buying opportunity presented by the remaining 'value gap' between the price of raw materials and the share of companies that extract them.

Our fund gained almost 11% in January as perceived risk for commodity-based companies eased. Clearly the market has moved past the utter doom and gloom that dominated much of last year and sees Europe for what it is - a systematic financial crisis that can be addressed with systematic solutions.

With that said, much of our portfolio remains undervalued and we are beginning to redeploy cash as we see opportunities. Assets such as infrastructure and service providers, for example drilling companies for natural gas producers, presenting incredible value.

In the near future we will be publishing strategic insights into some of our investing themes for 2012. We expect this year to be a busy one, with many lucrative opportunities unfolding."

About Ascenta Asset Management Ltd.
Ascenta Asset Management Ltd. is a licensed portfolio manager and the designated advisor to the Ascenta Special Situations Resource Fund. As specialists in the natural resource sector, the founders of Ascenta bring a wealth of experience in all experience in all aspects of the industry, from the founding of natural resource companies, to proprietary trading and equity financing of natural resource issuers, to originating investment themes and products for money managers, It's this diverse experience, gained over decades and across five continents that gives Ascenta a unique perspective to investing in the sector.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm