The continued run-up in the stock market since their 2009 lows has got a number of fund managers very bullish.
Graham Bibby, CEO & CIO of Richmond Asset Management, thinks equities are in a "multi-year bull market".
"We believe we are breaking out of this 10-year sideways trading range for the mature markets. Since March 2009, we signaled this as a new bull market," he told On Thursday.
Bibby favors the developed markets, and has been increasing his exposure to the U.S. since December 2010.
"We started to reweight heavily into U.S. financials, U.S semis, and into markets like Germany which were getting in a less worse situation than they were before," he said.
Others are echoing a similar view. Wayne Bowers, CEO of Northern Trust Global Investments is looking to increase his U.S. exposure to 25 percent from its current 19 percent, despite the run-up in the last few years. Click here for full interview.
"We are seeing some domestic growth, especially from a U.S. perspective, credit availability again is still strong in the U.S.," Bowers explained. He has trimmed his overweight on emerging market equities to favor U.S. large caps.
Don't Rule Out Emerging Markets
Despite the pull back in Asian emerging markets so far this year, Bibby believes they will make a comeback in the second half of the year as their economies outperform their developed peers.
"It's still all about all the cash that's still around, having to go somewhere...they will be looking to go back into emerging markets and dividend plays are quite strong at the moment," he said.
He prefers the semiconductor sector, particularly Taiwan chipmakers, over mobile phone producers like Samsung Electronics and HTC.
"Those companies are doing well, but it's the semiconductors that put in the components in them, and semiconductors are not just telephones these days, a lot of new technology, the new hybrid cars...are all getting involved with touchscreen technology and semiconductors," he said.
Bibby is also bullish on China. He says China's "more benign economic environment" and a "pent-up" demand for stocks could drive the Shanghai Composite [.SSEC 2903.16 -23.80 (-0.81%)] to at least test 3,200, as long as the index holds above the 2,700 level.
Post a Comment