After dropping 6.45% in March, the Iraq-focused Babylon Fund made a modest gain of 0.8% gain last month, returning it to near-positive territory  year-to-date.

The fund benefited from both the Iraqi dinar’s continued strengthen and a mixed bag of Middle Eastern telecom, construction and holding companies with large penetration in Iraq, according to portfolio manager Björn Englund. 

Last month, the US$16.5 million fund had most of its assets in the financials sector (39%), followed by a 12% allocations to both the oil and energy sector and the construction sector.

“Foreign asset allocaters are optimistic from a portfolio diversification perspective, due to the continued non-correlations witnessed between the ISX/Babylon Fund vs. both GCC, MENA and broader EM indices,” Englund said.