Most fund managers to overweight China in 2020

Amongst regional responses, Europe was the most popular pick for overweight.

Many of Singapore’s fund managers (17%) chose China as the market they are overweighting in 2020, according to a survey by the Investment Management Association of Singapore (IMAS).

India nabbed second spot at 14%, whilst the US followed at 7%. On a regional basis, fund managers are willing to overweight in emerging markets (4%) and Europe (5%).

This is despite nearly eight in ten (79%) respondents citing the further deterioration of US-China relations and weakening economic growth in China as their top concerns.

“Despite concerns about the US-China relationship, the results show that the industry remains confident that the outcome will be positive for Asia,” IMAS development committee chair Rajeev De Mello said.

In evaluating opportunities for investment growth, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) adoption (68%) took the lead for this year. This is also expected to be a strategy that will be popular for 2020 (57%).

Meanwhile, fund managers stated further margin erosion (83%) as their top concern on the growth of the investment management industry in Singapore in the next 12 months, followed by poor returns compared to passive solutions (62%) and lacklustre markets (60%).