EquitiesFeb 10 2015

US and Asian equities favoured by UK IFAs

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US and Asian equities favoured by UK IFAs

Separate surveys have suggested that UK financial advisers believe that US and Asian equities are where to allocate client assets this year.

A survey conducted at Blackrock’s 2015 outlook breakfast on 15 January with 124 London-based financial advisers and wealth managers, found that 61 per cent intend to increase their clients’ exposure to Asian equities.

The once perceived ‘risky’ Europe sector is attracting inflows, with 53 per cent of advisers looking to increase their clients’ allocation to European equities.

Meanwhile, a Prudential-commissioned PollRight study of 120 IFAs showed a quarter of financial advisers expect US equities will deliver the best performance in 2015, followed closely 19 per cent who favour UK mid-caps.

UK blue chips and emerging markets are preferred by 14 per cent and 11 per cent respectively, while European equities only got a 6 per cent approval.

While equities are predicted to have another strong year, fixed income are perceived as “less good value”.

Only 3 per cent of those polled by Prudential expected corporate bonds to deliver the highest returns in 2015, while 71 per cent of advisers asked by Blackrock planned to keep their client’s allocation to flexible fixed income the same.

Jeremy Roberts, head of UK retail sales at Blackrock, commented: “Investing for income and saving for retirement are, quite rightly, very high on the agenda for many advisers and their clients - 86 per cent of advisers cite these objectives as important for their clients.”

Andy Brown, director of investment funds at Prudential, added: “While advisers are generally feeling quite upbeat about the year ahead, and are feeling particularly confident about the UK and the US, with a general election looming, the UK market could display episodes of volatility as investors react to short-term political news.”

peter.walker@ft.com