The results of the poll, which was conducted during Invesco’s seventh annual Dubai Investment Meeting, reveal that more than half, or 56% of the attending intermediaries surveyed, feel “positive” or “very positive” about global economic growth prospects for 2013.
This compares with 38% who said they felt that way in 2012, a summary of the findings, released by Invesco today, shows.
Two in five, or around 39%, of the intermediaries surveyed said they believed the Eurozone crisis “is the biggest issue facing global financial markets”, more than Central bank policies (20%) and fiscal tightening in the US (20%), the survey, which polled 134 of 238 advisers attending the Invesco event, also found.
Geopolitical uncertainty and tension – paramount in the Middle East in 2012 – was found to be “a concern for less than one in five (17%) intermediaries and professional investors” among those surveyed in February.
Asked about specific asset classes, 54% of the respondents surveyed said equities were their “favourite”, followed by property – traditionally a popular choice among the region’s tangible-asset-favouring investors – and bonds (19%).
The Invesco survey’s results reveal somewhat less confidence in the markets among the surveyed intermediaries’ clients, of whom a third were described as being “unsure about what to do with their portfolios in current market conditions, in terms of buying, selling or holding assets”. And another third (36%) have indicated they do not wish to make any changes, the Invesco summary of the survey’s findings notes.
Nick Tolchard, head of Invesco Middle East, said the apparent rise in confidence among Gulf intermediaries was encouraging, and suggested “a shift in sentiment despite the continuing reverberations of the Arab Spring”, which began in December 2010 and quickly spread across the Middle East and North Africa.
“However, what these results also show is that there is no clear view among clients, and furthermore, many are unsure how to manage their portfolios in the current investment climate.”
Tolchard said the uncertainty represented a potential opportunity for the advisory community, which could use it as a reason to initiate a conversation with their clients about their current asset allocation, “and their options in the current market environment”.
As for the eurozone crisis which is apparently causing such conern among Gulf investors and their advisers, Tolchard said it is clear, from the Invesco survey, that its effects extend well beyond the eurozone’s borders.
This, he noted, was being seen in spite of the “strong home market bias in their investment preferences” that Gulf investors are known for.
Invesco opened its Dubai office in 2005, and has been operating in the Gulf for decades. It is a part of New York Stock Exchange-listed Invesco Ltd, which is also the parent of Henley, England-based Invesco Perpetual, the home of well-known fund manager Neil Woodford’s popular Income and High Income funds.
