Multi-asset teams sentiment indicator: Japanese equities most favoured in Q4

Scopic Research monitors the sentiment of multi-asset teams towards different growth, defensive, and diversifying assets on a quarterly basis. The sentiments are based on a 12-month view. Investment Week has joined with Scopic to share the results on a quarterly basis. Here, Paul Ilott, managing director of Scopic Research, summarises the findings for Q4.

Some multi-asset teams remain relatively pessimistic about the outlook for most equity markets - citing that higher borrowing costs are yet to filter through to real economies. These teams remain cautiously positioned in asset allocation terms and often prefer to overweight defensive industry sectors. If equity markets continue their recent upward trajectory, we might expect portfolios managed by these teams to lag broader market indices. Less valuation-conscious investors and multi-asset teams invested predominantly or wholly in passives are likely to outperform in this scenario. C...