The poll – which gathered responses from 222 panellists running assets of almost $600bn (€450bn) – indicates that a net 1% of asset allocators are overweight emerging market equities.
While the figure is well below the ten-year survey average for EM stocks, it marks a recovery in appetite from the 19% underweight recorded in August, and tallies with an Expert Investor Europe forecast in July that managers would quickly restore their emerging market equity allocations.
European equities remain the chief attraction, however, with a record 36% of BofA Merrill Lynch panellists planning to overweight the region on a 12-month view. The share of fund managers already overweight eurozone stocks dipped slightly, but is above the long-term average, at 42%.
Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents overweight Japanese equities also moderated, from 30% to 24%, while US equities staged a small recovery following last month’s net neutral reading.
Bond bearishness deepens
Fund managers are generally bullish on the growth outlook, with two-thirds expecting the global economic picture to improve during the next 12 months – up 13 percentage points from October – and a majority forecasting that the US will commence “tapering” in the first quarter of 2014.
The upbeat stance of panellists is reflected in their aversion to bonds. Indeed, more than two-thirds of asset allocators are underweight global fixed income – an all-time survey low.
