Fund managers opting for equities
Vast majority of companies are bullish about the outlook for the sector, with only 20 per cent overweight on bonds, HKIFA survey finds
The Hong Kong Investment Funds Association announced yesterday that over 70 per cent of fund management companies are overweight on equities whereas only 20 per cent are overweight on bonds.
"Globally we are experiencing a situation where countries are operating under very loose monetary policies," said Lieven Debruyne, chairman of HKIFA. "This has led to a tremendous amount of money being available on the global market. The money has to go somewhere and it will find its way to stock markets."
Globally we are experiencing a situation where countries are operating under very loose monetary policies. This has led to a tremendous amount of money being available on the global market
The outlook survey shows that fund managers are generally positive about the equity outlook. Within the equity sector, 62 per cent of the respondents are overweight on US equity markets, with 57 per cent for Asian equities and 46 per cent for Greater China.
Debruyne explained that China's market had been quite volatile in the six months prior to the survey and said that unless confidence in the growth of China is restored, it was hard to see demand for equity funds picking up.
Debruyne said that investors were taking a regional approach towards equities rather than focusing on a single market like China.
The market outlook survey reported that in the bond sector, fund managers continued to favour Asian and high yield bonds with 80 per cent and 60 per cent of the managers maintaining an overweight respectively.
