28 November Asia Insights

Oil Refining All-Time Highs

92 ACTIVE ASIA EX-JAPAN FUNDS, AUM $49BN

Oil Refining All-Time Highs

4 charts from our recent analysis on Oil Refining/Marketing positioning among active Asia Ex-Japan Equity Funds.

Fund allocations in the Oil Refining/Marketing industry group have soared to new all-time highs this month.  Average fund weights hit a new peak of 1.53%, the percentage of funds overweight increased to a record 34.78% and the percentage of funds invested to a 9-year high of 45.65%.  This lack of investment from 55% of managers leaves Asia Ex-Japan managers underweight the benchmark iShares AAXJ ETF by -1.08%, on average.

The rotation in to the Oil Refining/Marketing industry group has been among the strongest in the Asia Ex-Japan universe over the last 6-months. The increase in the percentage of funds invested was 2nd highest at +6.52%, with +5.43% moving to overweight. Despite this active rotation, industry outperformance also fueled increases in benchmark weights, pushing managers further underweight by -0.09% on average over the period.

Fund & Stock Level Activity

The rotation was driven by GARP and Growth investors, with Mirabaud, Prisma and TT International adding new positions between 04/30/2022 and 10/31/2022. LO Funds were the only fund to close, with the balance of activity heavily skewed to the buy side.
Activity between 04/30/2022 and 10/31/2022 was skewed to the buy-side, with +4.35% of funds adding exposure to Reliance Industries Limited, led by Mirabaud Equities Asia (+3.78%) and Prisma Asianavigator (+3.01%). Ownership increases were also seen in SK Innovation Co, Indian Oil Corp and S-Oil Corporation.

In the full analysis, we highlight the top holders and look at the latest aggregate stock holdings data for the Oil Refining/Marketing industry group.  We also look at the key  industry level over/underweights in the Asia Ex-Japan universe.


“As the 2nd largest industry group underweight in the Asia Ex-Japan Universe and a rising number of active Asia Ex-Japan funds buying in to the sector, the 55% of investors choosing to avoid exposure at this point may have cause to reconsider.”


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