Dubai: Middle East fund managers have become more positive on regional equities, a monthly Reuters poll showed.
The poll of 13 leading fund managers, conducted over the past week, found 38 per cent expected to increase their allocations to regional equities over the next three months and none to reduce them.
In last month’s poll, 31 per cent anticipated raising equity allocations and 8 per cent foresaw reducing them. Second-quarter earnings released by Gulf companies this week, while mixed, have given some managers a clearer view of how economies are coping with low oil prices.
Mohammad Ali Yasin, managing director of NBAD Securities in Abu Dhabi, said medium-term investors now had an opportunity to build positions in companies that had reported good results for the first half of 2017.
“Those companies will also probably prove to be the best dividend distribution candidates, which means the yield return is an additional incentive to buy,” Yasin added.
He said his outlook depended on firm oil prices, which hopefully would average around $50 for a barrel of Brent, and an absence of additional negative political events.
The region’s banking sector is the top pick for one manager, who cited improving margins and “optimisation of funding costs” and their ability to make higher cash payouts this year and next.
