When the People’s Bank of China imposed a 1% reduction on the required reserve ratio – the amount of cash reserves a bank must hold – on 20 April, bringing the rate down to 18.5%, it triggered a wave of positive sentiment. However, Rothman, investment strategist at Matthews Asia, believes that the hopes of increased […]
Author Archives: Fund Selector Asia
Asia’s unexamined small caps are a sea of opportunity
“The number of small-cap companies are increasing. Some local brokerages are bringing in new initial public offers in Korea. New companies are definitely coming up in Hong Kong and China, and India has so many small-caps,” Csellak told Fund Selector Asia. That creates potentially more undiscovered gems for small cap investors willing to do the […]
HSBC to base Henry Lee in UK as global head of alts
Lee will move from Hong Kong to London as part of the promotion, according to several reports. He will continue with his current responsibilities as global head of discretionary investments for the private bank. He will also grow the bank’s alternatives business and embed the alternatives product portfolio – which includes hedge funds, real estate […]
Thomas Miller issues China warning
According to Herberts, China’s stock market is exhibiting signs of being in bubble territory as investors flock to get a piece of it. “With China having enjoyed a significant bull run recently, is the bubble about to burst?” he asked. “The Shenzhen and Shanghai markets have more than doubled in a year, and the Shenzhen […]
JP Morgan sees an earnings rebound lifting US equities
Investors should, however, lower their return expectations to single-digits for the S&P 500 index, the firm said. The index has recently been hitting all time highs: “We continue to favour US equities, despite slightly higher valuation levels. The base case for the S&P 500 total return in 2015 is in the single-digit range, which […]
Asia dividends are growing even as global payouts dip
The sharp rise in the US dollar put downward pressure on global dividend payouts during the first quarter. Another factor was an outsized payout in Q1 2014: a $26bn special dividend paid by Vodafone, which was not matched in the first quarter in 2015. Source: Henderson. The Henderson Global Dividend Index is a measure of the […]
Multi-asset is a contender for income needs, says Schroders
Generating income when yields are at historic lows is no longer as simple as investors believe it once was, he said. A typical approach in Asia has been to focus on a split between Asian high-yield bonds and Asian dividend stocks, Pang said. However, the yield on offer is not commensurate with the volatility in […]
HEAD-TO-HEAD: BlackRock Asian Dragon vs Investec Asian Equity
Further easing measures are expected as current economic indicators in China have not improved, AXA Investment Managers and Schroder said recently. Separately, Schroder’s recently cautioned on the overheating in China’s market while BlackRock said it would prefer a selective investment approach following the surge in A- and H-shares. In India, managers like Franklin Templeton said they expect Indian markets to rise as […]
Desmond Ng to lead Allianz Global’s Asia business
Eu takes over the role from Brian Gaffne, who will retire at the end of the year, the firm said. Ng will take charge of his role from January 2016. He will also join the firm’s global executive committee. Ng is currently the head of institutional business in Asia-Pacific and chief executive for Greater China […]
Franklin Templeton brings alts fund to Singapore
The FTIF Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies Fund aims to offer capital appreciation with lower volatility relative to equity markets by allocating its assets across multiple alternative strategies.