Monthly Report

Deutsche Equity Income Trust PLC
12 November 2001

Deutsche Equity Income Trust



                     REPORT FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2001



MARKET BACKGROUND

The UK equity market as measured by the FT-SE All-Share Index rose by 3.1% in
capital terms over the month. Our net asset value per share rose by 2.0% and
the share price rose by 1.6% over the same period as the discount to net asset
value widened from 3.4% to 3.8%.

Conditions were not generally favourable for equity income funds over the
month as the FT-SE 350 Higher Yield Index underperformed the FT-SE 350 Lower
Yield Index by 1.9% in capital terms. In particular, there was significant
rotation out of 'defensive' areas of the market which have strongly
outperformed year to date such as Beverages, Pharmaceuticals and Water stocks
into some of the underperforming 'TMT' sectors of IT Hardware, Software and
Media. Another significant difference was the outperformance of mid and
small-cap stocks, with the FT-SE 250 Index up 4.8% and the FT-SE Small Cap
Index up 6.7% in capital terms compared with a 2.8% increase in capital terms
for the FT-SE 100 Index.

Our purchases included increasing existing holdings in Canary Wharf and
Enterprise Oil as well as buying new holdings in A B Foods, Reckitt Benckiser
and Manchester United. Holdings were sold in Pearson, Cable & Wireless and
Hilton Group and significantly reduced in GlaxoSmithKline, Britannic and BAe
Systems.

The Company's holding in Railtrack was written down to zero in early October
following the surprise decision to put the group's major subsidiary into
administration under the Railways Act 1993. Deutsche Asset Management have
joined a consortium that has appointed Allen & Overy to advise on legal
redress.

OUTLOOK

The equity markets appear to have stabilised following the terrible events of
September, helped by further reductions in interest rates around the world and
a slight rebuilding of consumer confidence. However, corporate newsflow
continues to be negative, with many companies reducing expectations for
profits in the current and future financial years and, in some cases, warning
of reduced dividend payouts. We continue to try and keep a sensible balance
across difference sectors of the market, preferring to select the best
companies within sectors rather than make large macro-economic decisions.


NET ASSET VALUE                                  31/10/01              30/09/01

                                                   231.2p                226.6p

MID-MARKET SHARE PRICE                           31/10/01              30/09/01
Ordinary Shares                                    222.5p                219.0p
Dividend Yield (%)                                   3.4                   3.4


LARGEST HOLDINGS (market value £61.4 million equal to 66.5% of total portfolio)

                                                                   % of

                                                      £'000's    portfolio

GlaxoSmithKline                                        8,260        9.0

BP                                                     6,066        6.6

HSBC Holdings                                          5,022        5.4

AstraZeneca                                            4,187        4.5

Royal Bank of Scotland                                 3,680        4.0

Vodafone Group                                         3,152        3.4

Shell Transport & Trading                              3,022        3.3

Lloyds TSB                                             2,508        2.7

Legal & General                                        2,335        2.5

British Telecom                                        2,194        2.4

Diageo                                                 1,999        2.2

Barclays                                               1,774        1.9

EMAP                                                   1,768        1.9

CGNU                                                   1,638        1.8

Centrica                                               1,510        1.6

Bunzl                                                  1,474        1.6

National Grid                                          1,414        1.5

Forth Ports                                            1,365        1.5

Morrison(W)Supermarket                                 1,266        1.4

United Utilities                                       1,259        1.4

BG Group                                               1,235        1.3

3i Group                                               1,143        1.2

Canary Wharf Group                                     1,108        1.2

Mediaone Group                                         1,029        1.1

Enterprise Oil                                         1,017        1.1




For further information, contact Graham Ashby at Deutsche Asset Management on
020-7545-6000.

For additional copies, changes of address or details of our Private Investors'
Plan, low cost ISA and Dividend Reinvestment Scheme (a recently established
scheme through which shareholders, who hold their shares on the Company's main
register, can use their dividends to purchase further shares) contact Mark
Pope on 020-7545-0520, e-mail address: [e-mail]. Further details of
Deutsche Equity Income Trust including the latest annual, interim and monthly
reports can be found on the Deutsche Asset Management website located at
www.deam-uk.com/uk/invest/.

Issued by Deutsche Equity Income Trust PLC and approved by Deutsche Investment
Trust Managers Limited, regulated by the Financial Services Authority and
manager of Deutsche Equity Income Trust PLC. Investors should be aware that
past performance is not necessarily a guide to future returns, values can fall
as well as rise and investors may not get back the amount they invested.