Gartmore's Wallace cautious on rest of 2009

Gartmore's UK Absolute Return fund manager Ben Wallace says he is still cautious about the future of the market and is preparing for a worse second half of the year.

Wallace, whose fund was launched in April this year, says as a result he is favouring large-cap companies with strong franchises and defensive qualities. “I would not be surprised to see the macroeconomic and corporate news flow deteriorating during the second half of the year and into 2010, and that means a difficult backdrop for equities,” he says. Wallace has been adding to his longer term positions in BSkyB, Compass and Tesco, while avoiding companies with short term business models.