Highflying tech stocks grounded in 2019

Dubai

Highflying technology stocks or popularly have now been grounded, and the outlook is uncertain.

The FAANG stocks (an acroymn for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google shares) led the gains in S&P 500 index last year and contributed half of the gains on the S&P 500 index, however so far they are responsible for 17 per cent of the gains in the index, according to Mark Shirreff Matthews, Head Research Asia, Julius Baer.

Returns from the tech stocks shrunk from the double digits in June to a single digit or even negative in the last quarter of the year. Conversely, non-tech stocks, which have been moving in low single digit and negative for 2018 and even in January, moved in positive last month.

Money has also been flowing into Chinese stocks, which has been one of the best performing emerging market so far. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index has gained 20.05 per cent so far in the year.

“I expect it should pull back around 5 per cent because the rally has been too fast, then continue to rise. I’d rather own China through property developer bonds than stocks. They have good yields and the sector should benefit from looser controls as the government seeks to stimulate the economy,” Matthews told Gulf News on phone.

Indian markets are too expensive, according to Matthews. “It’s the only emerging market that is trading at a premium to its 10 year average of PE [price to equity] ratio. There is real election risk in India,” he added. India’s benchmark Sensex index has been flat so far this year compared to 7 per cent gains last year.