Investors in Gulf markets have had a rough ride in recent years, having feasted on surging returns before boom turned to market bust. International fund managers eye the region as ripe for development as well as a source of new liquidity.

What's your take on the way the eurozone crisis has been handled by the authorities? What might be the medium-term implications for market investors?

The eurozone crisis has throughout been dogged by a lack of political will, a primary cause of investors' unease.

The ‘comprehensive' agreement last month [October] finally addressed some of the key issues: Greece's inability to repay its debts; the need to recapitalise the region's banks so that they can deal with the inevitable "voluntary" default; the need to bolster the financial stability fund (EFSF) to limit the possibility of contagion from Greece to other bigger and systemically more important countries such as Italy.

Key questions remain unanswered, however. A sustainable solution must involve a greater degree of political and fiscal union, the absence of which has always been a fatal flaw of the whole monetary union experiment. But there remains considerable resistance in key countries such as Germany.

The other key unanswered question is how to return the region to growth. Without the option of devaluation, the peripheral countries remain hopelessly uncompetitive, and addressing the debt overhang risks years of relative stagnation.

For investors, despite the valuation attraction of European shares, I think the opportunities will continue to be greater outside the region.

Do you agree with some experts that the US economy is not as bad as portrayed? If corporate performance is strong enough, can stock prices be expected to follow that lead?

The US economy does seem to be in better shape than Europe's, although there remain significant areas of weakness such as the housing market, which is key to consumer confidence. However, companies are stronger than they were in 2008, and the third-quarter reporting season was probably better than expected, so an improvement in sentiment could feed into higher share prices.

Emerging markets have seen a huge outflow this year for various reasons. Should we expect a bounce-back, and which areas in particular attract your attention?

Emerging markets were seen as the shining light at the end of the tunnel throughout the financial crisis. Then that light began to look more like an approaching train as stories about a ‘hard landing' in China began to dominate the media.

However, the ‘two-speed world' remains an unarguable fact and, with little differentiation in terms of valuations between emerging and developed markets, the outlook for shares in regions such as Asia looks good.

The rapid growth in the middle classes in countries such as China and India, as well as smaller markets like Indonesia, will continue to fuel consumption - which remains a central investment theme. Since China and other emerging markets are expected to provide the lion's share of global growth, obviously investors are concerned about signs of a slowdown now or economic hurdles like a high inflation rate.

However, the underlying growth story remains intact, and many of the companies that Fidelity analysts routinely speak to see the region as being central to their growth plans. This is true for countries in the developed world as much as in the emerging markets themselves, and the shares of big, international businesses based in Europe and the US remain a good way to tap into the emerging market story.

What has happened to investor attitudes on a global funds basis in the past 18 months?

Investors seem to be adopting a ‘bar-bell' approach today, interested in investing in the Asian growth story but at the same time concerned about income and capital preservation. So they are allocating funds to dividend-paying stocks and those funds promising a more cautious approach. This makes sense; there is plenty of growth out there, but also much uncertainty.

Equally, have client perceptions of asset managers changed since the increased level of correlation between asset classes has made it harder to show outperformance?

Although correlations between asset classes have increased, this has not had an obvious effect on fund flows. In fact multi-asset funds are an increasingly popular option, as investors acknowledge that in an uncertain environment they are better off spreading their investments.

Briefly, how should investors perceive the risks and opportunities now across diversified asset classes?

Valuations suggest equities are due a recovery from the past "lost decade", whereas fixed-income (especially government securities) seems to offer less obvious attractions after years in which falling interest rates have favoured bonds. If inflation were to return as a serious threat, then property might be a sensible hedge. A small allocation to gold makes sense [when] trust in paper currencies is low. And in volatile markets some cash is obviously necessary if investors are to benefit from short-term falls in markets.

Would it be true to say stock investing for investors and fund managers is now harder?

I don't think investing is ever easy; it only seems so in hindsight. In real time, as events unfold, there is always a range of possible outcomes, and investors need to focus on putting together a well-diversified portfolio that can hold its own whatever the market throws at them. Regular saving throughout the investment cycle helps avoid buying at the top and selling at the bottom. As ever, like golfers, the harder investors work, the luckier they become.

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What the Gulf taught me

I recently visited the UAE and Qatar to make a presentation. My timing was interesting because it coincided with an extremely volatile period in global stock markets even by the standards of recent years.

Undeterred, I made the case for equity investment on a handful of grounds: valuation; the long-run outperformance of equities; the tendency for markets to revert to the mean; and persistently higher emerging-markets growth.

I was struck by the impatience for quick returns. We all have a tendency to want the unachievable: income, growth and risk-free capital preservation… right now too, please!

As an industry, I think the onus is on us to educate our customers about when they shouldn't, as much as when they should, be giving us their business. Disappointed expectations are bad for both sides.

The other insight I gained was the tremendous interest in gold in the region. Everyone wanted my view. As this perceived "safe haven" had recently lost a good 15 per cent of its value in a short space of time, we had some interesting conversations about what is a safety-first investment!

The writer is Financial Features Editor, Gulf News