Equities will do better than any other asset class in 2010, according to a poll of fund managers from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC).
Equities will do better than any other asset class in 2010, according to a poll of fund managers from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC).
Some 50 per cent of those polled believe equities will outperform bonds, property and commodities, while 28 per cent favour gold. Only 5 per cent think that cash will be the best performer.
A majority of the poll’s respondents, who collectively control £17.3 billion of assets, believe the FTSE 100 will end next year between 5,500 and 6,000. However, there is a limit to the managers’ optimism, with not one of those polled expecting a close above 6,000.
Bruce Stout, manager of Murray International Trust, says of the macroeconomic climate, ‘We’ve come back from the edge and markets have celebrated that. Next year there will be more focus on how we’re going to pay for that because huge deficits have been run up.’
‘Emerging markets have emerged as relative winners’
The AIC poll highlights continuing confidence in emerging markets, with 35 per cent of those polled predicting that regions such as China, India and Eastern Europe will be star performers in 2010. Only 4 per cent are putting their faith in the US to outperform, with a similar number backing Japan and Europe. No manager believes the UK is set to take first place.
Slim Feriani, CEO of Advance Emerging Capital, says, ‘Emerging countries have emerged as the relative winners from the subprime crisis and resulting recession for two prime reasons: the quality of their sovereign and household balance sheets [and] their economic and corporate earnings growth.’
