|
 LONDON, (Reuters) -Global investor sentiment is diverging, with
Europeans, including the UK, remaining bullish on stocks and keeping
allocations in place while the United States and Japan fret over
rising risks, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
The monthly survey of 49 investment houses from the United States,
Japan, continental Europe and Britain showed the average recommended
allocation to equities in global balanced portfolios
was unchanged at 50.7 percent.
However, the figure hides marked differences in outlook between
regions. Europeans are raising equity exposure while U.S. and
Japanese fund managers are cutting allocations as they grow wary of
perceived threats to global growth.
Widespread caution was apparent in relatively big bets on bonds,
typically less volatile than shares. They saw allocations rise to
36.2 percent from 35.2 percent, the highest since March.
Optimists taking part in the survey pointed to an economic recovery
that is gathering momentum in the U.S. and the UK.
"Equities, particularly outside the United States, are still fairly
valued. Second, monetary policy overall continues to be
accommodative, in spite of some policy divergence over the coming
months and years. Third, the OECD (developed) economies remain in
expansion, led by the US," said Boris Willems, a strategist at UBS
Global Asset Management.
However, others highlighted monetary policy uncertainty in the
United States, geopolitical risks surrounding Russia's standoff with
the West over Ukraine, weak growth in continental Europe and
uncertainty over China's growth trajectory.
"Central banks may look to raise rates sooner and faster than
markets are currently expecting. The second notable risk is the
vulnerability of emerging market equities, to both a tightening of
US monetary policy and also geopolitical fallouts from Russia and
the Middle East," said Bambos Hambi, fund manager at British
investment firm Standard Life Investments.
The average allocation to cash fell to 5.7 percent from 6 percent a
month earlier, lifted in part by British fund managers putting more
money to work.
Allocations to cash usually rise when investors expect a period of
market volatility and seek to put more of their money in safe
havens, but fall when sentiment turns bullish.
[to top of second column] |
Investors also cut back slightly on property, dropping the average
exposure to 1.8 percent from 2.2 percent, and lifted allocations to
alternative assets, such as hedge funds and private equity to 5.6
percent from 5.1 percent.
European asset managers led the support for equities among poll
participants, lifting exposure nearly three percentage points to
48.6 percent on average.
British fund managers also were in bullish mood, cutting back cash
to 6.6 percent from 8 percent, though average recommended equity
allocations at 55.5 percent were little changed from a month
earlier. However, U.S. fund managers recommended cutting global
stock holdings in their model portfolios to the lowest level since
the financial crisis - to 55.9 percent from 56.1 percent a month
earlier.
Japanese fund managers cut the proportion of shares to 42.6 percent
in September from 45.5 percent in August while allocations to bonds
increased to 52.3 percent from 48.5 percent the previous month.
The poll was taken between September 15 and 26, when world stocks
easing back from the record highs touched in July and August. The
U.S. S&P 500 index set a record high during the survey period but
has since eased back nearly 2 percent and has lost more than 1
percent since the start of the month.
Emerging stocks hit 3 1/2-month lows at the end of the period,
battered by a strong U.S. dollar luring investment away, fears of
China slowing down and fallout from the standoff with Russia over
its role in Ukraine.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
