Investment comment

There were 'black swan' moments in political, economic and financial-market spheres, as well as in cinemas, during the opening months of the year, but investors were almost balletic in the poise with which they met their challenges. Uncertainty, pervasive in the first quarter, and usually anathema to investors, did little more than knock financial-market participants briefly off balance.

Among particular perils were the unrest and conflict which spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and North Africa ('MENA'), from Algeria and Tunisia to a host of other countries, including Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and, most violently, Libya. While gauging the implications of these Arabian frights, particularly in relation to the fast-rising price of oil, investors were jolted further by the threats associated with Japan's 9.0- magnitude earthquake, and the devastating tsunami and nuclear accident which followed.