Fund managers bullish on Q3 equities, emerging-market bonds
Despite the global volatility and sell-offs last month after the US sovereign-debt downgrade, more than half of fund managers remained bullish on equities and most had an upbeat view on bonds in emerging markets, including Asia, in the current quarter, ac
Of the fund managers polled, 63 per cent overweighted equities in the quarter, and about 57 per cent gave overweight views towards Greater China equities with expectations of Beijing's monetary tightening and inflation-rate increases drawing to an end, the survey said.
About 83 per cent were bullish over Asian and high-yield emerging-market bonds, given more favourable economic conditions in Asian and other emerging countries, and healthy corporate earnings.
The "Fund Managers Survey" analysed 12 of the world's leading fund-management houses in July and August on the basis of funds under management (FUM), asset-allocation views and global money flows.
"Current market volatility has created attractive buying opportunities for long-term investors. While there is continued uncertainty around growth in the US, corporate-earnings forecasts remain positive," said Bruno Lee, HSBC regional head of wealth management for the Asia-Pacific region.
"Fund managers are looking towards the emerging markets for opportunities and are focusing on Greater China equities as market expectations of the end of the mainland's tightening cycle continue," he added.
As the European debt crisis dampened their outlook on growth, 83 per cent of fund managers became bearish on European bonds and half were bearish on European equities, the survey said.
At the end of the second quarter, FUM rose by US$51 billion (Bt1.54 trillion), up 1.17 per cent from the previous quarter, led by a $62-billion increase in bond funds.
On concerns about the global recovery and debt problems in developed economies, equity funds dropped by $14.3 billion and money-market funds by $12.6 billion.
North America remained the top region for both equity and bond investments in the second quarter, and the Asia-Pacific region remained the second-largest for equity investment.
