Expert Investor’s research team found that for five out of seven equity categories – global emerging markets, Asia, Europe, Japan, frontier markets, global, and US – the Danes recorded either the lowest or second lowest sentiment.
The research found that Danish fund selectors went against the grain especially in their attitudes towards Japanese equities and unconstrained bonds.
While the average European fund buyer was very keen to buy both Japanese equities and unconstrained bonds over the next 12 months, the average Danish investor wanted to sell Japan and not move on unconstrained bonds.
The Danes, along with the Swedish, were also the stand outs as being less positive European equities than everyone else.
While their sentiment for Asia and global emerging market equities were consistently positive, it was lower than the European average.
Also, since Q2 of 2017 the Danish sentiment towards global equities had taken a noticeable dip.
In terms of bonds, the Danish selectors were mid-way in sentiment compared to other European buyers and only unconstrained and convertible bonds did not make any headway in the country.
The research team suggested that there was some potential for convincing them of the diversification benefits of these asset classes.
Despite these negative views, the Danes recorded the most positive macroeconomic sentiment (94%) compared with the European average (72%).
Absolute return strategies, especially long/short bonds and long/short equities, as well as property and global emerging markets were the asset classes in favour for Danish investors.
