Research from Legal & General Investments shows emerging markets to be the most popular geographical investment destination in the next six months, with two fifths (40%) of IFAs choosing it as the likely best performer in the short term.
The findings come from Legal & General Investments' annual What Matters Investment Index, which aims to investigate the views of the IFA community, tracking how sentiment and behaviour changes over time.
IFAs expect the second best performer over the next six months to be the United States with almost a fifth (18%) anticipating strong results in this region. This is closely followed by Asia Pacific (ex Japan) with a little over one in seven (14%) of the vote, whilst confidence in the UK is middling with only one in twelve (8%) expecting it to be the best performing through the next six months.
In contrast to the buoyancy felt about emerging markets, United States and Asia Pacific (ex Japan), IFAs are highly skeptical about the prospects for Europe with its ongoing economic difficulties. Only 3% of IFAs believe Europe will perform best in the next six months.
Simon Ellis, Managing Director, Legal & General Investments, said: "It is no surprise that Europe is the geography about which IFAs are most cynical when you consider the region's ongoing problems and lack of obvious resolution. With good growth and employment figures coming out of the United States, and the Presidential election cycle kicking into high gear, the optimism in this region is understandable."
He continued: "Emerging markets have delivered strong performance for some years and advisers clearly believe this trend will continue. Many clients want to invest in regions with higher rates of economic growth, and whilst recent investment performance has been weaker than in many developed markets the long term expectations are proving compelling."
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