Strong gains in US equity markets over the past year have encouraged investors to target the asset class in 2018, but while most prefer large cap funds it’s the small caps that have generated the better returns.
Spanish, Portuguese, and Luxembourg fund selectors are looking to expand their holdings of a large range of assets over the next 12 months and only intend to sell a few, mostly in the fixed income sector, according to Expert Investor research.
What do Portuguese fund buyers think of all the major asset classes?
To the surprise of many, rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) upgraded Portugal to investment-grade status on Monday. This pushed yields on the country’s government bonds down, and interest from international investors is already picking up.
Here you can see a slideshow of photos taken at Expert Investor Portugal, held on 18th May in Lisbon.
Ricardo Libano, a fund selector at the Portuguese wealth manager IM Gestão de Ativos in Lisbon, has a natural inclination to invest in active funds. But it’s not always easy to do so, and sometimes he is left little choice but to select a passive option.
Investors in Europe tend to be overwhelmingly focused on the risk of deflation. However, on the other side of the Atlantic inflationary pressure is building, and the Fed is more than happy to accommodate that, fund managers at Expert Investor Lisbon warned.
Here you can see a selection of photos taken at the Expert Investor Portugal forum, held in Lisbon on 19 April 2016.
Fearing that the current preoccupation with long/short equities will lead to short trades becoming too crowded, José Luís Borges insists on his long/short funds being market-neutral. However, the Lisbon-based head of institutional portfolios at BPI Gestão de Activos is otherwise happy to be overweight equities.
Some investors replace part of their fixed income holdings with market-neutral equity. Though these funds are supposedly uncorrelated to the equity market, it’s better to choose a diversified approach, argues Rui Machado, alternative investments director at IM gestao de ativos in Lisbon.
José Luís Borges is head of institutional portfolios at BPI Gestão de Activos in Lisbon. His favourite fund, in which he has been investing on behalf of his mainly pension fund clients for seven years now, is the Jupiter European Growth Fund.
Portugal’s fund selectors are switching part of their bond allocations to absolute return funds. They now have between 10% and 15% of their portfolios allocated to absolute return, and that share is rising.
