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In the midst of a financial asteroid storm that bombarded many rival fund managers last fall and winter, Chuk Wong, 48, of Dynamic Funds managed to stay on course. Asian stocks often plunge and rebound quickly, and his $665-million Dynamic Global Value Fund rode the surge in stocks this year, soaring 42% from March to August. The fund sports a five-year annualized return of almost 4%, while most rival global equity funds lost money. Wong's $101-million Dynamic Far East Value Fund climbed 6.2% for the year to Aug. 31, compared with the average competing Asian fund, which lost almost 4%. Andrew Bell asked him how he did it.

I'm more deep value and I'm more contrarian than other value managers. For example, I'll buy into a market that gets sold off because of a terrorist attack or something like that. Take Pakistan. It got to the point in January of this year that the market was so cheap I saw compelling opportunities. I bought the best bank there-MCB Bank Ltd.-at five times earnings, and it's done very well for us.

In the last few years, I've enjoyed travelling to China the most. If you're willing to go and look at companies that are not well known to Western investors-not just PetroChina or China Mobile-you're able to find a lot of under-researched, cheap stocks.

I've made money on Anta Sports Products Ltd. , an athletic footwear company. In China they are No. 4. Their price points are mid- to a little bit above average. People who don't have a very high income like to buy a quality pair of Anta shoes. Most investors outside Asia don't know the company. They sponsor [tennis star] Jelena Jankovic. We bought at six-to-seven times earnings, half the market value was cash, and the company is still growing at a double-digit rate. During the financial crisis, nobody cared.

Ten years from now, the total market capitalization of the Shanghai exchange will be a lot bigger-I can almost guarantee that. My intuition is that a few years from now, the index will be higher. But in 10 years, well, that's a little bit tricky, because the Shanghai stocks, on average, are very expensive. I don't think Shanghai deserves to trade at 30, 40 or 50 times earnings.

The big mistake that investors make when they look at the global market is that they feel handcuffed. They look to see what's in the MSCI World index. I don't think we should look at what constitutes the benchmark. We just look for the best companies.

Most people think that the best companies are the best stocks. In my view, the best are not necessarily the best stocks because they trade at high valuations and it's already factored in. I end up buying the No. 2, 3 or 4 companies. My style is to buy locally listed stocks.

Last year was painful. Selling was indiscriminate. My stocks got sold off more because they're not in the U.S. market, they're not in the big traditional markets, and they're second-tier, mid-cap type stocks. Japan is being gradually marginalized. It doesn't offer growth or value. If you want growth, go to China, India, Turkey or Brazil. I find Europe is one of the cheapest regions.

I love doing this. I've been at Dynamic for 14 years and I'll keep going until I can't do it any more.

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