Fidelity Investments has waived the three percent front-end sales charge, or load, on Fidelity Contrafund from February 25 through June 30, 2003, and has cut similar sales charges on nine international equity funds, effective February 25, amid continuing global equity woes.

The load waiver will apply to shares purchased prior to 4 p.m. on June 30, 2003, at which time Fidelity plans to reinstate the sales charge.

"Will Danoff has done an outstanding job managing Fidelity Contrafund over the years through the bull market of the 1990s and, more recently, the bear market," said David L. Giunta, senior vice president, Fidelity Personal Investments.

"We believe that waiving the sales charge on the fund provides a unique opportunity for our customers who are searching for an actively-managed, core equity holding to take advantage of Will's talents at a reduced rate."

The nine Fidelity international funds that no longer carry loads are Fidelity Canada Fund, Fidelity China Region Fund, Fidelity Emerging Markets Fund, Fidelity Japan Fund, Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies Fund, Fidelity Latin America Fund, Fidelity Nordic Fund, Fidelity Pacific Basin Fund and Fidelity Southeast Asia Fund. All of Fidelity's 18 international equity funds are now available to investors on a no-load basis.

"Removing the loads on these nine country and region funds will allow our customers to invest in a greater number of our high-quality funds without paying sales charges. At the same time, we achieve consistency in pricing across our entire retail international equity product line," said Giunta. 

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