Asset Plus: Be ready to shift assets

Asset Plus: Be ready to shift assets

Asset Plus Fund Management (ASP) suggests investors quickly allocate their asset portfolios to catch up with the highly volatile global markets.  

Managing director Ratch Sodsatit said the shocking move by the Swiss National Bank to float the franc had shaken investor confidence in policymakers. Many expect higher global investment risk, so quick asset allocation is essential.

"In times of high uncertainty, the key to success is investors have to shift assets at the right time," said Mr Ratch.

Geopolitical power struggles in many areas such as the Middle East and Ukraine have affected policymakers' economic decisions in those countries. Plummeting oil prices was one of the results of these decisions.

"We can see many large economies jumping onto the monetary easing bandwagon, so we expect currencies to be volatile this year," he said.

Even though the US has not continued its quantitative easing measures this year, its slower than expected interest rate increase could result in a depreciation of the greenback.  

ASP suggests investors turn to gold assets, which have underperformed the past couple years but should climb against the dollar during times of low interest rates and high risk from policymakers. 

The suggested portfolio for this year is equities 50%, bonds 20%, cash 15% and commodities such as gold and oil 15%. 

For the equity portfolio, he suggested a mixture of 30% US equities, 20% Thai, 15% Europe, 15% China, 15% Japan and other 5%. 

For Thailand, fund manager Sutin Sae-Ngow said a steady political situation meant heavy government spending, while rebounding consumer purchasing power would be buoyed by falling oil prices.

However, exports make up 65% of the Thai GDP and are likely to be hit hard by the global economic recession.

ASP plans to launch 12 new mutual funds this year, half foreign investment funds and the rest fixed-income and commodities funds.

It targets assets under management this year to rise by 20% to 37 billion baht from 31 billion at the end of 2014.

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