M&G's Riddell piles into Italian government bonds

M&G's Michael Riddell has put 10% of his International Sovereign Bond fund portfolio in Italian government bonds in anticipation of a fresh liquidity injection from the European Central Bank.

The manager has adopted a ‘risk-on' strategy and made the move into the Italian bonds last week, following Mario Draghi's comments that the ECB would do "whatever it takes" to save the euro. Riddell said another risk-asset rally, similar to the one seen earlier this year following the ECB's LTRO programme, could be on the cards. "If the ECB is about to throw another €1trn of liquidity at the markets we want to be buying things before they do. We have already seen the effect it has." Riddell sold long-dated German government bonds and US dollar exposure to make way for the Italian p...