Even as China’s economy is slowing, 49% of the investors said the country offers the best investment opportunities followed by ASEAN countries (26%) and India (17%).
The optimism comes from better economic growth prospects relative to other global economies, rising population and consumption, along with reform initiatives in some countries like India, China and Indonesia.
Stephen Grundlingh, co-chief executive officer for Singapore and regional head of Southeast Asia said: “We believe that the long-term economic growth trends continue to be supportive of China, India and many markets in Southeast Asia. We also view the recent economic reforms initiated by China, India and Indonesia as encouraging. Coupled with attractive valuations, we remain positive on growth and investment prospects in Asia.”
But, he added, “Consistent with previous years’ results, local investors demonstrate a strong preference for investing in Singapore and Asia.”
In regard to the ASEAN market, Singapore investors showed a home bias, with 61% favoring their own country for investments. Indonesia (14%) and Myanmar (9%) were the next favored in the Asean region.
Despite this optimism, 59% of the investors plan to adopt a more conservative investment strategy this year.
“This implies that investors remain reluctant to invest in overseas markets due to news of volatility in global markets.”
This largely gets reflected in investors’ concerns over the state of the global economy, interest rate, market volatility, and the uncertainty in the European economy .
In terms of asset class preferences, Singaporean investors believe stocks (57%), property (42%), and currencies (35%) will be the top three performing asset classes in 2015.
However, their expectations on property investments have declined following the fall in real estate prices in Singapore.
Franklin Templeton carried out the survey between 12 February and 2 March. The respondents polled were at least 25 years old with minimum investible asset of S$50,000 and owned investments outside of real estate.
